SILVER LINED DOUBT. [JESS MARIANO]

TWO.

Courtney huffed. "I think it's just you," she replied.

Jess grinned, eyes holding a mischief that Marley had seen at work yesterday. "Lucky me."

"You're insufferable," Marley muttered, making Jess' smile only grow wider. She moved to blow past him, but Jess put a hand on her shoulder. Marley whacked it off of her, scowling at him. "Don't touch me."

"Can you just turn down the Julia Stiles angst for a second?" he asked. "I actually had something to tell you."

"Oh, really?"

"Acosta, I don't know if you've gotten the message, but I didn't come over here to talk because I like you."

Marley glared at him, frown getting deeper. She sighed and finally gave in. "What?"

"Luke wants you to come in today," he told her. When Marley's reaction contorted into one of confusion, Jess elaborated. "He's hosting an event and he doesn't trust me to be on my own."

"Seriously?" Marley nearly whined. "This was supposed to be my day off."

"Yeah, he knows," Jess responded, leaning up against the lockers. "I was actually looking forward to not seeing you today for once, but Luke seems desperate."

"How desperate?"

"Like, will pay you double desperate."

Marley fought back a groan, not wanting Jess to see how upset this made her. She knew that she had to go in. One, Luke would be paying her double, and she really needed the money. More this month than normal. Two, Luke had done so many things for her with short-term notice when she was in need. She owed it to him. She owed him a lot if she were being honest.

She sighed, long and heavy. "Fine," she agreed.

Jess nodded. "Fantastic," he drew out.

They stood there for a moment, unsure of where to go from here. Marley needed to go to class and wanted Jess out of her face more than anything, but he seemed to linger. It was like he had something else to say.

Probably another variation of how much he can't stand you, Marley thought. That seemed to be the theme of the past two weeks.

She would never find out what it was, as the bell rang, letting them know that they had to get to their first classes. Marley looked to Courtney who hadn't stopped watching the two of them. "We have English. Let's go."

"Yeah," Courtney agreed, clearing her throat. "Let's go."

Marley's eyes found Jess'. "Don't you have class?" she asked. "Or are you going to put a wrecking ball through your classroom first?"

"You really need to work on your material," Jess told her. His voice rang confident as she walked away from him.

"You can't talk when you use Julia Stiles as an insult," she called back to him.

Jess watched as she moved down the hallway, never looking back to see his reaction. Courtney did, however, and her expression was one of awe and confusion that Jess was sure he wouldn't forget anytime soon. He waved at her, snorting as she quickly looked away to say something to Marley.

He found himself reaching into his jacket pocket, turning himself in the direction of the classroom her had to get to. He felt the paper between his fingers and he hesitantly pulled it out. Jess creased the folds tighter before looking around and slipping the note into the locker Marley had just closed.

Jess put his head down and stuffed his hands back into his pockets, cracking his neck before walking into the classroom where he sat down behind Lane Kim. He pulled out his book from his backpack, unfolding the dog-ear and began reading.