Stranger Things Have Happened | Marcus Bontempelli

eighteen.

A/N: this chapter contains strong course language and mentions of drug use and suicide. 

Marcus pulled a loose sleeveless black tank top over his shoulders and decided that he'd go down first and field a couple of questions before I joined the group downstairs. I walked over to the couch where my skirt had been discarded and wrapped it back around my waist underneath the hoodie I was swimming in. I rummaged around in my small handbag to find a foundation compact that I kept for emergencies and covered the bruising marks that had started to darken on my neck. Lessening the impact of my embarrassment was my top priority.

After much deliberation, I figured I couldn't hide out any longer and slowly made my way downstairs, hands firmly inserted into the front pocket of the hoodie as I padded into the kitchen. I was met by four sets of eyes, a smirking face from Josh and unreadable expression from Mitch.

"Morning," I greeted sheepishly leaning against the kitchen island. Mitch was sat up on one of the stools with Josh perched beside him. Aaron was standing up the other end, coffee mug in hand and sympathetic eyes inspecting the discussion that was about to happen in front of him.

"Good morning to you," Josh said, his teasing tone making it pretty obvious that he found this whole situation humorous.

Marcus was stood with a bottle of water clenched in his hands, deciding that it was probably a good idea to break the awkward silence.

"Can I make anyone a coffee?" Marcus asked but was quickly interrupted by Mitch.

"When did this start?" He asked, tongue sharpened and ready to attack.

I flicked my eyes up to his blue ones, "... It's been a week or so," I admitted causing a loud scoff to emit from his mouth.

"So the first thing you did when you got here was root the first bloke you saw?" Mitch asked rhetorically, the deep crease between his eyebrows telling me that he was fuming.

"Are you being serious right now? No, it wasn't the first thing and obviously I didn't set out for it to happen," I defended, my hands planted firmly on the counter top, eyes staring directly into his.

"You've been here for a week and this has been going on for a week so by my calculations that's exactly what happened," Mitch retorted, his face not softening in the slightest.

"Even if that is what happened, it's really none of your business," I challenged back.

"Of course it's my fucking business. Because you self-destruct everywhere you go and you've done it too many fucking times in my life and Bont doesn't need that... None of us do," He replied causing Marcus to interrupt.

"That's not fair, Wally," He said, stepping forward to insert himself into the argument.

"You don't even fucking know her, Marcus because if you did you wouldn't want anything to do with this," Mitch said, his voice rising in volume slightly.

"I know enough to know that I can make my own decisions," Marcus snapped back, earning a passive aggressive laugh to escape from Mitch's throat.

"No... your dick is making the decisions for you. Trust me mate, I've been there," He spat and that was it. Now I was pissed.

"Right, come outside," I said angrily, grabbing Mitch's shirt aggressively and pulling him towards the sliding door that led out to Marcus' backyard.

"Let go of me," Mitch shouted trying to brush my hand off.

"Why are you being such a prick?" I yelled, eyes narrowed and hands shoving his chest.

"Because everywhere you go you fuck things up and we don't need you fucking Bont and then ditching him. That's what you do," Mitch barked back, his finger pointed in my face.