By your window

27 (IV).

Chapter Soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Cr_apcZkpY

"No, wait!". Marben stopped trying to grasp the zipper tab, jolting when Five suddenly materialized in her dorm. Despite keeping his hand up, trying to prevent his strangely jumpy girlfriend from undressing, the boy's eyes were soft. "I...I'd like to look at you in that dress one last time. You really are marvelous, tonight". Marben's face slackened in a mixture of disbelief and tenderness.
"You truly think it, Five?".
"You're more beautiful than Euler's identity" said the boy with an incredulous little laugh; he leisurely walked across the room, taking his time to watch her, etching exactly how she looked in his memory forever.
"Don't play smart-arse with me, you tosser, I can't possibly compete with the mathematical version of Grace Kelly!" Marben told him in a playful voice. Five ignored her and took her hand, lifting it gently to invite her to spin around; she dubiously acquiesced, physically feeling his open admiration like a warm caress swept across her body.
"You're the loveliest thing I've ever laid my eyes upon" the boy murmured softly when they were face to face again, raising a hand to gently pull some hair away from her face and then stroke her soft cheek. "And I want to take you out on a date".
"You mean...like now?". Marben looked at him like he had just sprouted another head.
"Yeah, why not?".
"You're right, since it's almost one o'clock in the morning why don't we stay up until three or four to go out on a date? After all dawn's hours away, we have all the time in the world!". Sensing skepticism, Five resorted to something he knew the girl couldn't resist.
"Please, Princess. Indulge me". And immediately Marben's shoulders relaxed, her eyes softened and in a matter of seconds her attitude was completely different.
"Five, dear...I'd love to, but...".
"You're knackered, I know" the boy interrupted, gently pulling her to the window by a hand. "We'll only be gone for an hour. I promise. And after that I'll be all yours for the whole night".
Marben wavered a moment more, looking around herself, at the dorm room she had wished to shut herself in since the moment she had begun to get ready for the soirée; couldn't she forgo it for a single hour more?
Hesitantly, the girl turned to her boyfriend.
"Won't it be cold, outside?". With a dazzling smile Five tore his fancy tailcoat from himself and wrapped it around Marben's shoulders, then hugged her close and jumped.

They landed sitting on something soft, with a crackle and a little squeal from Marben. Someone else shrieked too, and with a start the two teens saw a sleepy waitress dressed in pink shoot up from a counter and try to compose herself.
"Uhm...go...good evening" the young woman slurred, passing the back of a hand on her mouth with dismayed sleepiness; Marben was a bit bewildered by the idea of the waitress sleeping - and drooling - on the countertop, so she kept her mouth shut and let Five do the talking, while she stared fixedly down to detect any traces of saliva.
"Hi...Agnes" said the boy, tilting his head to read the waitress' name directly from her embroidered uniform "Could you please serve us two raspberry jelly donuts, a cup of black coffee and...what would you like to drink, honey?".
"Some milk, please" answered Marben, forcing herself to stop looking for bacteria on the counter. The young woman straightened her apron, nodding, and without loosing her sleepy demeanor turned to get their orders.
"Thank goodness she's too vacant to complain about the coffee I asked for!" blowed Five with eyes wide as saucers; Marbed laughed softly.
"Do you know her?".
"Not really, I think she's new. The other waitresses never take me seriously when I order coffee, but she didn't flinch. That's why I'm incredulous".

Throwing a look around with a giggle, Marben guessed she had ended in what she supposed was a typical American cafe: stools on a grey checkered linoleum floor, a boomerang-shaped worktop in front of an equally boomerang-shaped station with counter displays stuffed with donuts and other sweets, bulbous ceiling lights and a multitude of little square tables and chairs, all in red and yellow. In a flash, two steamy cups and as many donuts on little plates were shoved under their noses.
"Thanks" the two teens said simultaneously, and then snickered at each other while the waitress ignored them to disappear in the back; Five grabbed his cup of coffee and gently pushed one of the small plates towards Marben. She smiled tenderly at him, even if he had ordered for her without asking, even if she wasn't really in the mood for doughnuts at past one in the morning. Even if being in a deserted cafe late at night hardly counted as a real date. She sensed Five knew she had been fasting all day, and that he felt the need to pamper her with something he considered special. So she took the proffered donut and bit into it with cautious curiosity.
"Did I get you a good one?" eagerly asked the boy.
"Mmmmh" groaned Marben as an answer, closing her eyes and chewing slowly the soft morsel of donut, as if wanting to memorize its taste.
"Yeeeeeees" said Five in a sultry tone: Marben's eyes shot open to see her boyfriend looking at her like she was the sweet to be devoured whole, and not the donut. She burst out laughing and smacked him on an arm.
"You're such a pervy dumbass!".
"But a cute one, you once told me" slyly countered Five.
"Oh, did I?".
"You did".
"Must be the truth, then. Anyway, why do our dates always include some food? And why it's always sweets, above all?" asked the girl, unaware of her icing sugar smeared nose; the boy snorted a laugh and shook his head fondly.
"Because we're shameless gluttons, the both of us, with an exceptional taste for special things". Marben stopped mid-bite, and with her teeth suspended over the donut threw her boyfriend a sideway glance: Five gave her his best cocky smirk and then she knew, he was suggesting she had been lucky to have gotten a hold on him, but also implying the he'd been lucky with her too. It was her turn to shake her head fondly.

Five took a couple of sips from his cup enjoying the quiet after the concert and the clamor of the crowd, but mostly to be sharing it with his dearest love. The donut shop felt homey, in its familiar and warm vibe, and it was making him feel relaxed as if he had been in the privacy of Marben's dorm room.
"What you did at the concert...to avoid shaking my Father's hand..." he said at some point, cautiously; when Marben looked back at him out of the corner of her eye with an impish look on her face, he knew he could talk freely. "Jesus, that was savage! I didn't see it coming!".
"You liked it?" asked the girl, laughing heartily. Five joined her, recalling how she had faked a couple of incredibly plausible sneezes just as his father had approached her on the stage: Hargreeves had looked terribly irritated, when a sheepish Marben had refrained at the very last moment from extending to him the hand she had used to cover her mouth and instead had offered the top of her bow as a substitute. The outraged Sir had nevertheless pinched with two fingers and awkwardly shaken it, but his gaze had been raging as he looked at her.
"I absolutely loved it!" the boy stated enthusiastically and even a bit awed. Marben smiled adoringly at him.
"It's a little trick I stole from my Dad. But he never holds back from sticking out the hand on which he sneezes!".
They both laughed so loud at that point that the waitress peeked out from the back to check if everything was alright; they ignored her and after a bit she went back to whatever she was doing.
"Sorry, it was terribly rude of me" admitted Marben when she'd sobered up a bit "But I can't just...stand him. He gives me the creeps". In a moment, the mirthful atmosphere dissipated, and even the shop felt a little bit colder. Five automatically reached out to grab Marben's hand and she clutched his one.
"He's vile, deceitful, cruel. I don't want to get near your father ever again. And just the idea of shaking hands with him has been repulsive since Mister Kai elected me First Chair".
"I suspected so. Something's been off with you since...since you discovered my Father's meddling in your school's management". Marben looked down, and eventually nodded.
"I'm sorry, Dimple, but after you told me what he used to...to do to you guys I...started to fear him. And being forced to suffer his presence more and more didn't help".
Five didn't need to hear anything more. He stood from his stool and wrapped Marben in the tightest hug he dared to give her without fearing of hurting her.
"Let's not talk about him anymore, yeah?" he said, breathing the sweet scent of her hair. "Let's just be me and you. I won't let him even breathe in your direction from now on". Marben's slender arms came up to wrap around his waist and hold, and against his chest, her head bobbed up and down in assent.
They ended up calling for Agnes and asking her to wrap the donut that Five hadn't even touched; Five paid the bill, then grabbed the wrapping, girded Marben's waist and jumped. When Agnes turned around with his change and the receipt, the shop was empty.

A/N: ... and against all odds, surprise! I almost did the impossible not to miss the Friday update. Maybe you don't give a damn, but...I'm happy to have done it :) writing is what makes me happiest in the world!