Working for Him...

Chap.19

I head to the Franklin household, deciding to meet Marc there rather than him picking me up. After being accused of sleeping with him the last thing I needed was to be seen getting into a car with him. When I arrive I am greeted briefly by Jane before Melissa and Marc appear from behind her. Marc has his hands on Melissa's shoulders with a towel slumped over his own. Let's just ignore the fact that he is shirtless shall we?

"Salaam ," she huffs and turns to Marc, "oh will you let go of me? I'm not some egg that will drop and crack to pieces."

I smile at how Marc stares at her clearly baffled that she is dismissing his kind behaviour, hm. Jane smiles at me before turning and leading us into the living room. There we find Amanda on the couch, occupied with whatever was on the screen of her phone. She barely notices our existence as we sit down. Marc tells me he'll be back in a bit and leaves. This seems to catch Amanda's attention as she finally looks up from her iPhone.

"You guys heading somewhere?" she asks.

"Yeah, I'm being forced to attend a meeting that Marc is having with some client."

"Ah," she shakes her head and sighs, "It's just funny how, well I thought that once we get married, we'd get to spend more time together, me and Marc. I know this is silly and it's just in my head, but it's like he's avoiding me and just doing whatever he can to not be with me. Am I crazy for thinking that?"

"Completely, let me tell you a story," Melissa attempts to lift her feet up but when she doesn't succeed in doing so, she runs her temples instead, "One time when we were little, it was my birthday and that same day I took a mini math test. It wasn't major or anything but anyway, we got our results the same day and I'm no genius so yeah, I did pretty badly. I was so upset, even though I myself knew how...

"What's that got to do with anything?" Amanda interrupts.

"Don't cut me off like that, I'm a pregnant lady I have every right to kill you," she lets out a huff and lets her hair down, "So anyways, I was upset and being one of the very few not-clever people in that class, and a dramatic bitch, I did not want to do anything for my birthday. I went home and just stayed in my room, dramatic I know. So Marc barges into my room right, and goes through my bag, he then takes out the test paper and rips it up and he says "Happy birthday sis"".

Amanda and I stare at her speechless, needless to say we did not get the point of the story. She sighs and shakes her head, "The point I'm trying to make is that Marc is affectionate and he does care, but in his own way. He's not a flowers and chocolates kind of guy, and you should know that Amanda

"I do."

"Good, and you should know that he cares about you alot, and he wouldn't intentionally hurt you no matter how much of a prick he is."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't just hear you call me that," Marc walks in, fiddling with his collar completely unaware of what we were just talking about. Cutie.

"What are you guys talking about?"

"You."

"Clearly, exactly what were you saying?"

"Well I was just telling them how excited I am about our honeymoon," Amanda approaches him, planting a kiss on his cheek, "Aren't you excited?"

"I completely forgot..." he mutters. But judging from Amanda's hurt face and Melissa's suddenly raised eyebrows, everyone in the room heard him.

"You forgot?" she looks heart-broken, I feel for her.

"No, what he means is that he brought you a little something and he's forgotten it at work, I was meant to remind him to take it but I...I forgot," I lie, Marc eyes me intensely but Amanda seems to buy it as her face lights up.

"You brought me something? Marc, you...you've never brought me anything before, like ever," she stares at Marc teary-eyed. He brushes his thumb on her cheek and she hugs him tightly.

"I didn't buy her anything," Marc states matter-of-factly as we take a turn on our way to the meeting.

I gasp, "No(!)"

He shoots me a look, "sarcasm? You do know you're in my car right?"

"What are you going to do? Demand I get out?" I roll my eyes, looking out of the window. It was cold outside, the heating in the car was turned all the way up and Ed Sheeran's voice from the radio filled the silence. Silence...why would Marc be silent after I rolled my eyes at him? When I turn to face him he is looking at me weirdly, "What?"

"How do you do that?"

"What?"

"I don't know, just..."

"Ohmygosh is Marc Edson Franklin lost for words?" I tease and he sticks his middle finger up at me as the car comes to a stop. I want to do the same back but my phone vibrates in my bag and interrupts me from doing anything.

Kashif.

I ignore the call and let myself out of the car. When I am outside Marc is standing with a confused face, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just almost opened the door for you and I can't understand why I'd do that," he shakes his head dismissively and heads for the entrance of some fancy, and of course expensive, restaurant. He is carrying a briefcase that contains important paper-work which he hopes his client will sign during or after dinner.

I laugh at him, "Really? You don't know why you could be a gentleman?"

"No I just don't know why I could be nice to you, y'know?" I stare at him, my mouth in an 'o' shape as he speaks to a waiter, "I just don't like you."

"Well you should know that the feeling is mutual," I cross my arms as we are led to a table with six empty seats. As we sit take our seats the waiter tells us he will be back shortly with the starters and then leaves.

Marc sits next to me with the same confused look as before, "What now?"

"I almost just pulled your chair out for you, how crazy is that?"

I smile as he runs his hand through his hair and licks his bottom lip before taking a sip of the water in front of him. My oh my.

"Are you going to get that?" he arches an eyebrow at me, placing the now empty glass back on the table.

I stare at him dumbfounded, "what?"

"Your phone, Isra," my phone was indeed ringing, "It's probably that husband of yours."

I roll my eyes. Kashif has been calling me ever since I left the house and it's bugging me. I just do not want to deal with him right now. I am expecting an apology, yes, but not over the phone and especially not in the presence of Marc. Since I opened my big mouth and claimed to be in love with my "romantic" husband, I can't suddenly be in a fight with him. In other words, there is no trouble in my paradise in Marc's eyes.

I am surprised however when it isn't Kashif calling me. In fact, I wish it had been him and not Jamal. I hesitate for a moment before I decide I should answer the call. But just as I am getting up I am stopped when Marc grabs my hand, pulling me straight back down.

My butt hits the chair hard, "What?" I hiss, trying to keep it quite in the posh restaurant.

"They're here you fool," I follow the direction his eyes are looking and indeed there were two women approaching. One of them walked with confidence, her head held high. She wore a fur coat, which is in no doubt made out of real fur, a black dress that hugged her until just above her knees. The second woman walked a few steps behind the first woman. She nearly stumbles over her own two feet as she attempts to carry a load of files and finish off whatever she is doing on her phone.

I almost forget that Marc is holding my hand until he starts rubbing his thumb up and down it, involuntarily from the looks of it. I am confused; why is my heart beating fast, not in an 'I'm-about-to-have-a-stroke' kind of way, but in an exhilarating kind of way.

I am confused as to why I don't want him to let go.