"I am not going to be that guy who fucks you against a car on the side of the road."
Stormy jumped as the car door suddenly flung open and a flustered looking Marcus stuck his head in.
"What?" she blinked at him, caught off guard by his sudden agitation and presence. He'd been walking up and down the road for almost ten minutes now, while Stormy had been left to stew in the hot car all alone.
"You deserve more than being some fuck on the side of the road. I'm not doing that to you."
"What if I want you to?" she challenged him.
"Well, then I'll be totally pissed off with you. Because you shouldn't sell yourself so short. You're worth a lot more than that." He was deliberately avoiding eye contact and his body language suggested he was on the defensive for some reason.
"Here," he handed the phone over to her. "Lilly is going to phone you back in five minutes, she wants to speak to you."
Stormy was confused. "What's Lilly got to do with this?"
Marcus ran his hands through his hair, still avoiding her prying eyes. "I called Damien. I needed to chat."
"What did he say?"
Marcus looked as sheepish as hell. "He crapped on me. Called me an asshole and said that if I hurt his future sister-in-law, he'll kill me."
"Seriously?" Stormy perked up, feeling touched by this. "He said that about me? That's so sweet!"
"Sweet?" Marcus repeated loudly. "The guy's threatening to kill me, and he's not someone you want to mess with. He may look thin and wiry, but trust me, in a fight he could take me down."
"He's just joking." Stormy smiled slightly as she imagined Marcus and Damien in a wrestling match.
"Sure, he's not going to kill me, kill me," Marcus conceded. "But the point is, he's pissed." The phone rang and Stormy looked down at the screen as if it was a giant hairy spider.
"Slide that thing across," Marcus pointed.
"What thing?"
"That icon at the bottom of the screen, slide it with your finger."
"Why do these things not have buttons!" Stormy wailed in frustration, and started poking the screen with her finger. Marcus snatched the phone back and answered it; he handed it over to Stormy and then turned away to give her some privacy.
"Oohhhh Storm, what's going on?" Lilly breathed down the phone as soon as Stormy answered. She sounded excited, for some bizarre reason.
"I don't know, Marcus and I –"
Lilly cut her off. "Are so perfect for each other! I am sooooo giddy with excitement. You guys make so much sense. Exciting!"
"What? You're not serious, Lil!" Stormy shook her head in exasperation. How could Lilly think that she and Marcus made sense? No two people made less sense as a couple, as far as Stormy was concerned! They were like oil and water, pigeons and starving cats, garlic snails and strawberry yoghurt.
"I'm totally serious," Lilly insisted. "You guys would be so awesome together. Ying to Yang."
"Lil, have you taken drugs?"
"No?" Lilly sounded taken aback.
"Your brother's little white pills again?"
Lilly sighed. "That was two years ago. When will this family stop teasing me about it?"
Stormy managed a little laugh, because the answer was never – it was too damn good a story. It'd happened when she and Damien had first met.
"Lil, you thought your bunny rabbit slippers were talking to you."
"Let's not change the subject here. You and Marcus. I love it."
"We're too different," Stormy argued.
"But that's why it's so perfect. Look at me and Damien – we're total opposites. I mean, I want our first dance to be Celine Dion and he wants Depeche bloody Mode. The song sounds like something that should be played at a funeral, not a wedding. Depro."
"You're skipping the gun here, Lilly. Besides, Marcus is not into it. He's just made that very clear."
Lilly made a conspiratorial "Mmmm," and then started whispering down the phone. "You're wrong. I think he phoned Damien because he is so into it and it's totally thrown him."
Stormy thought for a while. Could he be into it? This strange thing between them? Stormy put the phone down a little while later feeling mightily confused. Lilly was really counting chickens before they crossed the road here. She and Marcus were not ever going to be a couple, that wasn't even on the cards...
The cards, she suddenly remembered. A consultation with them would clear up the whole mess and confusion in her brain. Plucking the deck off the dashboard, where she'd abandoned them earlier, she closed her eyes and pulled one out of the pack.
The Sun! Material happiness, fortunate marriage...What? That was completely wrong. Maybe the cards were having a bad day. She decided to choose another one.
The Two of Cups...Noooo, that couldn't be right either. Love, passion, union... She pulled yet another one.
Ten of cups: Contentment, perfection of human love and marriage... Had the whole entire multiverse gone mad?
The door opened and Marcus climbed in into the driver's seat again. "I didn't have the heart to tell them that we might miss their rehearsal dinner. We'll tell them when we're absolutely sure we won't make it."
He was changing the subject. But Stormy didn't want to. "Can we talk about what just happened, Marcus?"
"I'd rather not, to be honest. Damien is right, I'm being a complete asshole, you know, sleeping with you and stuff. He said I was using you."
"Are you?" Stormy asked, not really liking the sound of that, or its implications.
Marcus looked up at her with eyes that seemed to be full of a million feelings and thoughts. "Are you?"
Stormy thought about it for a moment. Was she just using him for sex? Was he just using her? Were they using each other, or was there more to this thing? Stormy shrugged, unsure of how to answer him. "That makes it sounds so icky. Like we're horrible horny nymphos."
Marcus looked away, gazing out the front windscreen thoughtfully. Stormy thought she detected a hint of disappointment or hurt in his expression. Silence fell between them once again.
***
When Damien had accused Marcus of using Stormy for sex, he'd wanted to reach through the phone and strangle him. Because in that moment, he realized he wasn't. He didn't want to tell Stormy what he and Damien had really discussed – he'd left out the whole other half of their conversation. Because after that – despite himself and his usually sound judgment and proclivity towards logic and reason and the cleverly constructed arguments he was used to delivering in court – he'd admitted to liking her.
He liked her.
He couldn't quite believe he was saying the words out loud. He'd barely admitted it to himself yet, let alone someone else. But there it was; for some bizarre reason, he liked her. He actually liked her. But he hadn't particularly liked the part of the conversation when Damien had told him Stormy only dated guys for six weeks and then broke it off. Marcus was a settle-down kind of guy; Stormy was not. Damien had said that whatever was going on between them would only end in heartbreak for someone. Lilly had told Stormy the same thing, obviously. And they were right. Nothing more could happen with him and Stormy – they were just too different, and wanted completely different things from life.
He had to put and end to this, once and for all.