BEAUTIFULLY PERFECT.
norahs eyes flutter open to be faced by an already wide awake eyes admiring her. still too tired, she closed her eyes back. "it's rude to stare," she muses, nuzzling against the pillow.
she could practically see the shit-eating grin on his face. "well, i wouldn't stare if you weren't so adorable when you're sleeping."
"you never stared before," she points out.
he shifts closer to her underneath the sheets. "and how would you know?" he whispers.
she peeks one eye open to see him inches away from her face, his head on her pillow. "excuse you, this is my pillow."
"actually, this is my bed," he reminds, stroking her cheek. "so if i have to share, i'm afraid you do too." her other eye opens only for her to roll them dramatically before flipping to her other side.
not to her surprise, marco wraps his hands around her to tug her closer to him. "how long have you been awake for?"
"thirty minutes," he answers, running a hand through her hair.
her brown eyes widen. "you've been staring at me for thirty minutes?" before he could reply, his phone starts to ring. "shouldn't you get that?" she asks when she noticed he made no effort to move.
"i should, seeing as that was the 30th time its rung this morning, but no," he mutters before nuzzling up closer to her. "your phone has been ringing too." he regrets to inform her, not wanting to move from their current position.
as he expected, norah sits up but he keeps his arms around her. "where's my phone?" she asks, looking around the room that was brightened by the sun illuminating through his windows.
"i'm not saying," he claims, trying to pull her back down. she laughs at his failed attempt as she shoved his arms off her.
"marco, i'm serious. where's my phone?" she smiles, though it was quite conflicting. "it's probably just nessa."
finally, he sits up and leans his chin on her shoulder. "then nessa should learn some patience," he mutters before kissing her shoulder. "my parents and siblings won't be home until later tonight, so why don't we just stay here watch movies all day." he tempts, rubbing her arm.
feeling quite relaxed by his rubs, she hums. "as much as i'd love to, i need to go to nessas. i should tell her the truth about what happened last night." at the mention of last night, marcos flirty smile drops.
he sits up to face her. "so what are you gonna do?"
"what do you mean?"
"i mean, are you gonna file a police report, or--"
norah widens her eyes. "what? no. no way."
"wait, you aren't gonna report him? norah, you have to." the thought of the sick fuck going free for what he had done made marco clench his jaw.
she pulls away from him, removing the covers off her legs. "i don't wanna talk about, can you drop it? i don't want people to know," she pleads, searching the room for her phone.
he quickly gets up from the bed and follows her. "no, norah, no, i can't drop it." she grabs her jeans that was set on his desk chair, hoping to find her phone in the pockets. she exhales when she felt him approach her.
she sharply turns around. "i said i don't wanna talk about it. drop it, marco."
he grabs her waist, pulling her into the bathroom. he flips on the lights, turning her to face the mirror. "norah, look." he urges, gently uncovering the marks under her hair. "that bastard did that to you, and he can't get away with it." noticing her discomfort with the image staring back at her, he quickly puts her hair back in place.
"but i don't want anyone to know," she whispers. she felt her cheeks turn red from the guilt and shame. "i feel like it was my fault."
marco instantly shakes his head. "it wasn't your fault, norah."
"but if i never went into your room, that would've never happened-- i know it wasn't fully my fault, but i still contributed to it." she looks down in shame.
he turns her around and places his hands on her cheeks, making her look up at him. "you, in no way, contributed to it. it wasn't your fault, and i'm always here for you. you can trust me when i say things will get better. and if it makes you feel comfortable then no one will know, i can go with you." she nods before snaking her arms around his neck to kiss him. marco kisses back only for him to pull back from a ringing that electrified from his phone for the hundredth time this morning.
norah laughs. "okay, maybe you should answer that and make sure nobody died or something." he shakes his head. "why?"
"because i think i have an idea of who it might be," he mutters against her lips
"who?"
"nobody who matters."
** **
the mixed girl walks through the halls of the monga home to find a door that led into a familiar bright green room filled with fake plants and drawings. she looks at the sign hung on her door that said 'do not enter'. norah ignores it before barging into her room to find nessa on her desk with her headphones in, drawing in her sketchbook-oblivious to her surroundings.
she sees this as the perfect opportunity to scare nessa but before she got the chance, nessa sighs. "norah, i know you're behind me."
norah groans. "you and your freaky psychic senses, i swear."
with a laugh, the artist turns around and shuts her book. she quickly takes notice of norahs over-sized hoodie. "nice sweatshirt," she compliments, but what she didn't know was that it was actually marcos since he gave it to her to cover the marks on her skin. "so, i take you and marco had a pretty freaky night, huh?"
norah purses her lips. "actually," she trails, but was interrupted by nessa.
"you know i saw those hickeys on your neck last night, right? you can't lie to me." she smirks but norah sighs, sitting on her bed.
the teenagers gulps. "that's the thing. those marks weren't from marco."
nessas mouth hung open. "what are you talking about?"
after drawing in a deep breath, norah explains everything to nessa. to say nessa was foaming from the mouth halfway through was an understatement. norah was actually worried she was going to grab her keys and drive to esthers house and handle the bitch herself. and after many, many death threats later, nessa finally calmed down.
"if i don't get to kill the bitch, you have to promise me that you'll report this to the cops. please." norah nods at her pleading eyes.
"i am," she assures immediately and nessa smiles in relief. norah contemplated wether or not she should tell nessa about what happened last night. "and also," a smile grows on her. "marco told me he loved me last night."
to her shock, nessa didn't squeal or jump from excitement. instead, she gives her a look of sympathy. "norah, you know i've only wanted you to be happy, but he just broke up with esther."
norah shakes her head, "nessa, it's not like that. i know it seems like i'm just a rebound, but it's different. and i know how stupid and naive it sounds to say something so cliche, but it actually feels real. for once, i don't have to hide my feelings from him or the world anymore, knowing that he feels the same for me. i mean, his feelings may have not grown and manifested like mine have, but to be fair, mine have had the past six years and i refuse to let my doubts mess this up for me because i'm finally happy," norah concludes, taking in the sweet oxygen that left her lungs from the speech.
nessa tightens her lips while sending an apologetic look to her friend. "well, marco is still in the doghouse with me, but i'm glad you're finally happy. lord knows you deserve it." she chuckles before pulling norah in for a hug.
she really did deserve it.
** **
"when did i know i had feelings for you?" she repeats his question. they were currently at his house and had just cleaned up the mess from the party and they were now eating pizza in his living room couch. she hums, "eighth grade," she concludes.
"wait, but on your time capsule you said six years. wouldn't that only be four years then?"
"you said when did i know, not when i started." she smiles, "but as i was saying, it was eighth grade. we were supposed to be doing our math homework at my house, and you were hell-bent on not even glancing at a single equation." he chuckles, not actually remembering, but he had no trouble believing her description seeing that he hated algebra. "you were goofing around like usual, trying to distract me from my work, and wound up spilling kool-aid all over my work."
"and let me guess, you had some big hissy-fit because you're elanorah thakur and school is everything," he jokes.
she laughs and smacks his chest gently. "i was upset but i did not have a hissy-fit thank you very much." he moved a piece of hair behind her ear, listening to her like a child listening to 'the cat in the hat' for the first time. "but anyways, you thought i was gonna cry so you offered me your cheetos out of you lunch for the next two weeks."
marco frowns and sits up, "wait, that's it? that's the story? are you kidding me?" she raised an eyebrow. "you fell in love with me because i gave you cheetos?"
she laughs. "no. i realized i had feelings for you because when you thought i was gonna cry, you cried," she corrects with a coy smirk.
"you sit on a throne of lies," he proclaims, unwinding his arms from underneath her. "i know i'm an emotional person, but i did not cry." he takes their plates, getting up. "i did not cry," he mutters to himself.
she smiles as he walks away. "sure you didn't." she then crawls up to follow him to the kitchen. he begins to rinse the plates off, his back facing her. she snakes her arms around him and rests her head on his shoulder before pecking his cheek. "marco?"
"hm?" he faintly responses.
"when did you know you know you had feelings for me?" she lets go to sit on an island stool, awaiting his answer.
moments later he turned off the water and dried his hands before turning around to face her. he pursed his lips, trying to wrack around his brain to find the right words. "okay, there's only one way to explain this but i'd sound crazy."
"try me."
accepting the challenge, he nods and shifts his body. "it's like i always had feelings for you, but the thought of us being together was so unrealistic i had someone subconsciously hide them away from me." he attempts to re-explain when he notices her confusion. "okay, umm, it's like there was a door, and i never opened it because i knew what was behind it. but as long as the door was shut, i didn't have to face it."
she slowly walks closer to him. "so when did you decide to open this door?"
"when you said you were in love with me on the time capsule," he admits.
she nods, wrapping her thin arms around his torso and looks up at him. he releases his hands from the counter to hold her cheeks. "you should kiss me now."
"i should've kissed you a very long time ago."
and everything was beautifully perfect.
for now.
** **
thank you for reading.