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♫ winter song by ingrid michaelson and sara bareilles ♫
Cora stormed her way through the halls silently but with haste.
All of this was a bad idea, and she knew it. And yet, she couldn't look at Marcus with that 'I told you so' face, not as much as she wanted.
Because, in a way, he was right. There was a bridge that she needed to mend with Greta. She knew this now because all she wanted was to punch her stupid sister in her stupid face until some sense could be knocked back into her.
But as the elevator doors closed in front of them, the only thing she managed to bang her fist against was the wooden-paneled wall at her side. That, and muffle a hoarse scream into her hands before letting her face seek refuge in the confines of Marcus's shirt.
"You're a moron," She muttered to him.
Marcus, however, rubbed her back with sympathy. "But I'm a moron that knew what he was talking about, right?"
Scoffing, Cora pulled away before she could become all too enamored with the scent of the cologne he was wearing right now. "What the fuck are we gonna do?" She asked both him and her.
"Hell, what am I gonna do? How am I supposed to go to work and look at her the same, y'know? What if she shows up at this party with Julien, and Malik is there too? What if they fight and Greta instigates it? At this point, I wouldn't even put it past her to love drama so much that she'll adore the idea of two men fighting over her. And I-"
"Okay, okay...." He took her back into his arms, and softly, Cora surrendered to the embrace with a deep sigh.
"You smell too nice," She muttered. "I hate it." But all she got was a chuckle bouncing from his chest before she wiped her eyes.
"You realize that not everything has to be in your control, right?" But upon his assessment, all Cora could do was look at him with an alienated stare before looking away altogether.
"If things aren't in my control, they turn to shit," She told him.
"Or fate will push things in the way fate wants them to."
But as they stepped out of the elevator, walking from the lobby to the car, Cora couldn't help but scoff. "Fate? You're bullshitting me, right?"
"Hey, don't knock it!"
"So what's fate gotta say about Greta then? Because you weren't there, and no one saw it as clearly as I did. Julien had a habit of cheating on her and gaslighting her, and the only way she could balance the scales was if she did the same for the sake of payback. He wasn't just abusive to her; she was the same to him, too."
"And you think she'll make the same mistake again?"
"She's already making it!"
"Well, you think that with Kelly or Lulu or even Malik will let Greta stick to that part of herself?"
"Your sisters have their own life to live. And Malik's-"
"Nowhere near being done with that girl," He said to her in the passenger seat of that car. "Kelly wasn't the only one noticing all the shit he was getting into back in the day. If what you guys say is true about the two of them, then it's only a matter of time before he's back to being at her beck and call, girlfriend or not."
And Cora shook her head as she carefully drove towards snowy traffic. "What if she pushes them all away?" She asked. "She's done it before. She'll do it again."
"Has she pushed you away, yet?" She shook her head at his question almost instantly. And then he shrugged before speaking again. "C'mon, lemme get you something to eat."
She drove them both to a small diner. And they found refuge in a booth outlooking the snow steadily falling over her car. Cora gazed at it wistfully, almost too attentive on it to lose focus of Marcus's voice when he ordered for the both of them.
But long after the period of much needed silence, Cora brought her gaze up to see Marcus standing over a jukebox.
Soft-sounding, soulful Christmas music swarmed the speakers and soothed its way into the atmosphere. It made her smile, watching him walk back over to her. But instead of waiting for him to sit back down, Cora made the impulsive decision to instead stand up.
The tune played ever so tenderly around them, and she took his hands into hers. "Since there's no one else around, and we're already waiting on our food..."
He scoffed, however, already expecting the next few words to leave her mouth. "Girl, you're gonna embarrass the both of us right now. I got left feet."
Cora laughed. "I'll lead. C'mon, it'll make me feel better."
With that, he obliged to her wishes and wrapped his arms around her. Her head was on his chest, her arms around his waist. They steps across the floor was gentle and cautious.
Already, with just a few sways moving them about, she smirked to herself as she realized that what Marcus said had been so damn true. "I feel bad for your prom date," She teased.
"C'mon, it ain't that bad."
"It's pretty bad ah- HEY!" Hard laughs fell from her lips as soon as he made her body swing in his grasp. Basking in the sudden exhilaration of the moment, she still couldn't help but slap his chest in retaliation. "Ass."
But Marcus kept laughing until she spoke again. "You know, I never went to prom," She confessed.
"How come?"
She shrugged, though. "It was always my brother and sister's thing, I guess. I was this cheerleader with an eating disorder who wore Kim Possible cosplay all the time... I was insecure about my thighs a lot back then. Still am, I guess."
"Well I like your body."
"Hmph, I'm sure you do," She scoffed out.
But Marcus braced himself to keep up with the rhythm long enough to capture her eyes in his gaze. "I love everything about you. You know that, right?"
She bit her lip, pushing herself up along her toes to respond with a mere, gentle kiss.
And as one Christmas song trailed off into another, Cora kept a smile on her face the longer they danced. "What about you?" She asked. "What was prom like for the infamous Marcus Chase?"
"Don't you gotta be in school to go to prom?"
"Whataya mean?"
He sighed then, contemplating his words before he weighed them out his lips with shame. "I was arrested just a little while after I turned 18. Drug possession. Gave me two years with some probation. I got out, found work at a warehouse Malik was at for a bit. Then as soon as he told me he was headed off to Seattle to be with Kelly, I saved up enough money, finished my probation, then brought my ass out here too."
Sympathy fell over her then. "Oh, Marcus..."
"Don't," He told her. "that was then. Now, I'm here with this beautiful girl. Most guys who went away don't get that lucky."
But she sighed. "Well, at least now I know why you always grip the soap so tightly."
Before she could laugh, he swung her around again. After a few uncontrolled spins, Cora ended up a cackling, dizzy mess, stumbling her way back into the booth with Marcus across from her.
All she could do was smile now, but that smile burned all the brighter as soon as the waitress walked towards them with their plates. Her raspy voice greeted them, "Here's our special for you two lovebirds."
Cora blushed, and Marcus thanked her as she walked away. "You know something?" She then asked him before he could pull a thin fry apart through his teeth.
"Wassup?"
"Just a few minutes ago, you said you loved everything about me."
This time, it was Marcus's turn to blush before he leaned back into his seat cushion, studying the smug features upon his girlfriend's face. "I fucked up, didn't I?"
However, she tilted her head to ponder. "I mean, I was definitely shocked when I realized it. If I'm not mistaken, I guess it was kinda close to saying... you know."
"Would it have been too fast?"
Shrugging, Cora answered. "I don't really know if we follow what would be considered 'average pacing'. I mean, we kinda live together alright, right?"
"And share the same bed."
"And I like waking up with you."
"I love it when I'm sleeping next to you."
"And I want more dates like this."
"Hell, I want you to teach me how to dance."
They both found themselves laughing in the middle of their back and forth. Cora ate into her burger some more, all the while Marcus moved from the other side of the booth to sit next to her.
She leaned her head against his shoulder. Then, with salty fingers, she lightly grasped onto her lover's hand. The hold was tender, the clasping of their fingers almost instant. Finally, Cora had forgotten what brought them all the way out here in the first place.
All that mattered to her was this moment. And she just wanted to see how long she could extend it.
"I think I'm falling in love with you." She whispered to him.
And Marcus confessed. "I love you too."
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