Marcus.
The face of Jane lightened up when she saw his name popping up on her phone. A smile curved on her face, and she got up from the sofa, ready to walk to her room. She accepted the FaceTime call.
"Hello," Jane happily said.
A smile grew on Marcus his face. "Babe," he said and scanned her face. "Your face looks better." It was less swollen, but still blue.
"Yeah, luckily," she said and closed the door of her bedroom behind her. "It doesn't hurt that much anymore, and it is less swollen." She sat down behind her desk and put on the desk light. Jane squeezed her eyes closed. "Oh, Jesus, I didn't expect it this bright."
Marcus smirked about the moment; dork. The light gave a good look on Jane's face. "That's good to hear. But how are you? How is Iceland?" He was lying on his stomach on the sofa.
She nodded and licked her lips. "I'm fine," she answered. "It's good to be home, to see mum, dad and my brothers... I feel like I am rested, even though I just arrived here a couple of days ago. And you?" Jane looked at the time; she had one hour left. "I'm gonna do my makeup at the same time, by the way."
"Sure," he said. "I'm alright, making long days at the factory. I'm glad it's Saturday," he breathed.
"Is everything looking good for the first race?" Jane put her hair up and grabbed her makeup products. She never wore a lot of makeup, but she had to cover up the bruises. The focus of today's look was on her cheek, not the eyes or lips. "Are you looking forward to it?"
"I can't wait to sit in the car and drive around."
"Wait, that was a stupid question," she mumbled; of course, he was excited.
He smiled. "Just a few more weeks," he said. "The break was way too long."
"And you will be in F2," she told him and shared an exciting look.
"I will be in F2..." The realisation just hit Marcus. "Fuck, I will be in F2." It was silence. He noticed Jane was looking at him, she looked proud. "It's just... The last step before F1."
Jane nodded. He looked so adorable, the smile on his face was noticeable in his eyes, and that said a lot... "You'll be there before you know it," she said. "But first, enjoy this season and make memories."
"I absolutely will..." Marcus looked at Jane, she was carefully applying primer on her face.
"Oh," she suddenly said. "We passed the background story thingy. 89 points out of 100, so we nailed it."
"Why not 100? I mean, we wrote the best story ever."
"Because professors never give 100 points."
It was silence.
"Nonsense," Marcus blurted. "But we nailed it! You did a good job, babe," he proudly said. "My family liked it, they said it read nicely and that it felt personal." He raised his eyebrows, showing it was a good thing.
"Dream team," she confidently said. "And thanks, but we did our best. Hard work pays off."
"Are you going to do something?" He was curious, since Jane was doing her makeup. And he assumed that she was going somewhere...
"I'm gonna have..." Jane stopped talking and sighed, how do you call it in English? "Like snacking with my brothers. Jack is probably gonna announce he will be moving to Italy or something to make a film."
He nodded. "How did they react when they saw you? And your parents. I'm sorry, you don't have to answer it. It's personal," he mumbled.
"No, no, it's fine," Jane said. "My dad and oldest brother are police officers, so they were close on calling Italy and ask for a story. And the others... Worried, but they are glad I'm here and that you guys were there at that moment. So thank you again, also on behalf of my family."
"They're police officers?"
"Yup."
"Good to know," Marcus quietly mentioned.
"Don't worry," she smirked. "They're like teddy bears. But yeah, in my opinion, they were overreacting. I guess it's normal, though."
They talked for a bit; about the situation, Italy, Iceland, New Zealand, friends, family... Marcus watched how Jane did her makeup, it was pretty satisfying to watch it. Their conversation got interrupted when the door on Jane's side opened. Jane started to talk in Icelandic, Marcus couldn't make up words from it.
Marcus got up from the sofa and walked to the kitchen, grabbing something to drink. He stretched his limbs and yawned. When he walked back to the living room, Callum and Mick just arrived home.
"You've got mail," Callum said and gave Marcus a postcard.
"Thanks," Marcus replied, and he looked at it. It was a postcard from Iceland; it had a photo of a glacier on it. A smile grew on his face, it was from Jane. He turned it around and let his eyes glide over the written words.
'Hæ Marcus! A postcard from the cold island (actually, it's 10ºC, but it's still cold ;)) because why not? I will see you soon and I miss you. Kisses, Jane.'
"Anyway," Jane said. "I have to go in a couple of minutes," she announced.
He nodded. "Your card arrived," he said and showed the card. "Thank you..." Just a simple postcard made him feel so happy. "I wish I could jump into my car and drive to you for a hug."
"Oh, that went fast," Jane reacted surprised; usually, it would take the mail two weeks to arrive across the ocean. "You're welcome, I hope you like it," she widely smiled.
"I love it," he softly said. "And I miss you too, babe." Marcus looked up from his phone into the living room. He was open and vulnerable, this was the first time he acted like this - apart from his family - and he was scared Callum or Mick would've heard it. Not because he was embarrassed, but because they had never seen him like this before. They luckily didn't hear it. "I really don't want to offend you, but Icelandic does not sound attractive at all," Marcus changed the subject.
Jane looked at him, not showing any emotion. "Fuck off," she politely said, making Marcus laugh. "Well, yeah, I mean, you can't compare it to French," she smirked. "Anyway, how do I look? Like, can you see something's happened to my face?" She stepped away from her phone.
"No, if you don't know it, you won't know it." Marcus scanned her outfit, she was just wearing blue jeans, a knitted sweater, and her hair was up in a ponytail. It was simple, but she looked so pretty. "You look beautiful."
"Thanks," she shyly said and took her phone with her when she walked back to the living area.
"Is that Jane?" Callum curiously asked, he didn't notice Marcus was FaceTiming until now. "How is she doing?"
"She's fine, her face looks better," Marcus replied.
Callum nodded and walked over to Marcus, he just wanted to say hi. He appeared in the background of the video. "Hi, Jane."
"Hey," Jane friendly smiled when she saw Callum on her screen, next to Marcus. A few seconds later, Mick also joined the call. "How are you?" She put on her shoes at the same time.
"Good, good," Mick replied.
"Your face looks good," Callum said, slightly perplexed. Did her face heal this quick?
"Good to hear," she replied. "Yeah, well, this is the power of makeup. Underneath this layer of makeup, it is purple and blue."
They all noticed Jane was chatty again, that was different one week ago. Mick and Callum waved at Jane and walked away from Marcus. Jane put on a warm winter coat and closed it.
"A winter coat?" Marcus blurted, and his eyes rounded, but then he remembered it was much colder in Iceland.
"Uh, yes," Jane chuckled. "It's eight degrees outside, and it's raining."
"We literally have the first heatwave of the spring right now. It's 25 degrees now," he sighed. The warmth was fun and all, until you had to work.
"We are having one of the coldest days now..." She grabbed her keys. "But my brother is here. I will talk to you soon," she smiled.
The corner's of Marcus' lips curled up, and he nodded. "Have fun. And say hi to your brothers from me."
"Will do. Have a nice evening."
"Bye."
Jane pressed a kiss on her fingers and pointed it at Marcus, like she was sending a kiss to him. Marcus winked and ended the call. It did him good to talk to Jane and seeing her smile again... He was a happy man.
The three men sat down on the sofa, scrolling through their social media or playing games. It was silence; they were all processing the week.
"Are you official yet?" Mick broke the silence and looked at Marcus.
Marcus looked up. "Hmm... No, not yet. I mean, I think we technically are, but I haven't asked her yet, or she hasn't asked me yet. Why?"
"Just wondering," Mick replied. "Because you two seem really close and happy together."
"We are," Marcus happily smiled. "But you know, the situation is quite intense, and I don't want to go too fast. I think I'm gonna ask it when I will see her again."
"Adorable," Callum said. "Have you planned it out how?"
"Jane loves flowers, so I think I'm gonna buy her flowers and ask it. Just keeping it simple and personal, we both are not persons who like big events. So if I'm gonna ask it with fireworks or a band, we both would be mega awkward."
"When will you be seeing her again? She is home, right?" Mick asked.
Marcus nodded. "She's back in Iceland."
"Iceland?" Both Callum and Mick asked, confused.
"Yeah, she's Icelandic."
"Wow, I never would say that. I thought she was English," Callum shared. "She has an English accent and...I don't know."
"She was raised bilingually, Icelandic and English. Jane's born in England, though. Her parents were visiting friends in England, and Jane was born earlier than planned." It was silence between the three men, but only Marcus couldn't stop smiling. "My goodness," he blurted.
Callum looked at him, and he noticed the one look he never had seen on Marcus' face before, not like this. Of course, that look was on Marcus' face for weeks, but it looked like he finally noticed it himself. "What?"
"Let it all out," Mick grinned and looked at Callum, who had the same grin on his face. Mick never had seen Marcus this 'vulnerable', he was over the moon...
"It's just..." Marcus looked at the ceiling. "Jane is the last thing I think of before falling asleep and the first thing I think of when waking up. And...and that is the only thing that hasn't left my mind since I met her." He was trying to think of the right words to express himself, he had to share it. "Every day, I wake up, and I can't wait to talk to Jane. And it sounds so...cliche, like I'm so in love. Which I am, but I never thought I would be that person."
"I'm proud of you that you finally see it yourself," Callum blurted out of nowhere, causing Marcus to look at him with raised eyebrows. "Since the moment you saw Jane again, and you made plans for that breakfast date, which definitely was a date, we could see you were over the moon."
"I never thought I had a chance because of her ex, even though he didn't treat her right... But I think I fell hard for Jane."
Mick ran his hand through his hair. "I swear, if she was in Italy, I would drive you to her place, and you would ask her to be your girlfriend because damn... You are madly in love, mate. I would almost say, call her and ask it, but you wait until you see her."
"I can't wait to see her..." Marcus sat up from the sofa. "It made me laugh when you met your girlfriends, because you were also so...in love? And now it's me."
"Now it's us who will annoy you; we're pulling the reverse card," Callum smirked and put up his thumb.
"You could expect this..." Mick told him and shrugged. "Good luck, mate."