AFTER THE RAIN (Bonus edition)

17. Had the whole Multiverse gone mad?

"No?" Lilly sounded taken aback.

"Your brother's little white pills again?"

Lilly sighed. "That was two years ago. When will this family stop teasing me about it?"

Stormy managed a little laugh, because the answer was never – it was too damn good a story. It'd happened when she and Damien had first met.

"Lil, you thought your bunny rabbit slippers were talking to you."

"Let's not change the subject here. You and Marcus. I love it."

"We're too different," Stormy argued.

"But that's why it's so perfect. Look at me and Damien – we're total opposites. I mean, I want our first dance to be Celine Dion and he wants Depeche bloody Mode. The song sounds like something that should be played at a funeral, not a wedding. Depro."

"You're skipping the gun here, Lilly. Besides, Marcus is not into it. He's just made that very clear."

Lilly made a conspiratorial "Mmmm," and then started whispering down the phone. "You're wrong. I think he phoned Damien because he is so into it and it's totally thrown him."

Stormy thought for a while. Could he be into it? This strange thing between them? Stormy put the phone down a little while later feeling mightily confused. Lilly was really counting chickens before they crossed the road here. She and Marcus were not ever going to be a couple, that wasn't even on the cards...

The cards, she suddenly remembered. A consultation with them would clear up the whole mess and confusion in her brain. Plucking the deck off the dashboard, where she'd abandoned them earlier, she closed her eyes and pulled one out of the pack.

The Sun! Material happiness, fortunate marriage...What? That was completely wrong. Maybe the cards were having a bad day. She decided to choose another one.

The Two of Cups...Noooo, that couldn't be right either. Love, passion, union... She pulled yet another one.

Ten of cups: Contentment, perfection of human love and marriage... Had the whole entire multiverse gone mad?

The door opened and Marcus climbed in into the driver's seat again. "I didn't have the heart to tell them that we might miss their rehearsal dinner. We'll tell them when we're absolutely sure we won't make it."

He was changing the subject. But Stormy didn't want to. "Can we talk about what just happened, Marcus?"

"I'd rather not, to be honest. Damien is right, I'm being a complete asshole, you know, sleeping with you and stuff. He said I was using you."

"Are you?" Stormy asked, not really liking the sound of that, or its implications.

Marcus looked up at her with eyes that seemed to be full of a million feelings and thoughts. "Are you?"

Stormy thought about it for a moment. Was she just using him for sex? Was he just using her? Were they using each other, or was there more to this thing? Stormy shrugged, unsure of how to answer him. "That makes it sounds so icky. Like we're horrible horny nymphos."

Marcus looked away, gazing out the front windscreen thoughtfully. Stormy thought she detected a hint of disappointment or hurt in his expression. Silence fell between them once again.

***

When Damien had accused Marcus of using Stormy for sex, he'd wanted to reach through the phone and strangle him. Because in that moment, he realized he wasn't. He didn't want to tell Stormy what he and Damien had really discussed – he'd left out the whole other half of their conversation. Because after that – despite himself and his usually sound judgment and proclivity towards logic and reason and the cleverly constructed arguments he was used to delivering in court – he'd admitted to liking her.

He liked her.

He couldn't quite believe he was saying the words out loud. He'd barely admitted it to himself yet, let alone someone else. But there it was; for some bizarre reason, he liked her. He actually liked her. But he hadn't particularly liked the part of the conversation when Damien had told him Stormy only dated guys for six weeks and then broke it off. Marcus was a settle-down kind of guy; Stormy was not. Damien had said that whatever was going on between them would only end in heartbreak for someone. Lilly had told Stormy the same thing, obviously. And they were right. Nothing more could happen with him and Stormy – they were just too different, and wanted completely different things from life.

He had to put and end to this, once and for all.