and i love her ▸ tate langdon ✓

06. plump

They say I'm plump
But I threw up all the time

-

The library was quiet. It was always quiet during lunch due to the fact that very few people would skip this social time to read.

Marceline sits at one of the back tables, 'The Great Gatsby' sitting in front of her as she constructed her analysis of the book since it was her big project for this quarter in English. She had read this book twice cover to cover to try and find a deeper meaning.

The chair at the table beside Marceline slides across the tile floor, Tate sitting down on the chair. His eyes study Marceline who had headphones on. Her lower lip was stuck between her teeth as she furiously scribbled words down on a piece of paper.

She failed to notice his presence, Talking Heads blasting loudly in her ears so she would be undisturbed. Tate leans in, his eyes on her face and watching as his actions go unobserved by her. He blows a soft stream of air on her cheek, making her jump.

Ripping her headphones off, she looks at Tate. "Fucker!" she whisper screams, careful to stay quiet since this was a library. He smiles childishly, taking amusement at how scared she looked.

"What're you working on?" Tate asks, his eyes flickering to the paper that was covered in notes from the book. "A stupid analysis for English class. We have to find the 'deeper meaning' of a book," she tells him, setting her pencil down.

"Boring," Tate comments to which Marceline just nods. "What's this 'deeper meaning'?"

"I have to decide between two," Marceline tells him. He tilts his head to the side, beckoning her to go on. "Okay, it's either the fact that the so-called 'American Dream' is unattainable and nobody could ever truly achieve it. Or, how money can't truly make you happy in any sort of society,"

"Why the first one?" Tate asks, having never read the book. He was more for non-fiction rather than fiction. "Because Jay Gatsby gets rich and famous, which is ultimately the American Dream. To gain notoriety. But he always has that nagging feeling of 'I need more, I need more'," she explains to him.

Tate listens to her explain her thesis, nodding along as she speaks. "The second one is because again, Jay gets rich but he still longs for Daisy. He has everything he's ever wanted and yet he cannot obtain Daisy because you cannot buy love. He was never truly happy because he never got Daisy,"

A small, amused smile pulls on Tate's lips as he hears the ways she speaks about The Great Gatsby. She had this connection to them in an odd way. Some would say Marceline has everything. She has a picture-perfect life. But she yearns for her mother.

And Tate could hear her yearning for something in her voice.

"Anyway, I think I'm going with the second idea. It'd be easier to write," she shrugs off, picking up her pencil and circling a large block of writing. She had the urge to ask Tate about his life but repressed it. It'd be weird to ask now. She needed a good flow to get into the topic of his personal life.

Personal lives were always messy.

Marceline fiddles with her pencil, figuring out how to go about asking Tate about his life. She didn't want to sound nosy or rude. "You still want to come to my house tonight?" he asks.

She looks up at him, nodding in response to his words. "Would midnight work? My dad kinda forbade me from seeing you," she says 'forbade' sarcastically. He furrows his brows in question. She internally curses herself but keeps a calm composure.

"My stepmom says your family is, uh... a negative influence," Marceline admits, her eyes purposely avoiding his. He stares at her, scratching the back of his neck nervously. "How much do you know?" he asks.