Stranger Things Have Happened | Marcus Bontempelli

thirty-eight.

What began as an invitation given solely to Marcus ended up turning into a group date, which was definitely not the vibe I was looking for. After mentioning to Liv that I was going along to the Northcote Social Club to a gig, she put the feelers out and wrangled her boyfriend, Caleb and his roommate, Bailey Williams into coming. According to her, Bailey already had a ticket for the show and she promised that her and Caleb wouldn't cramp my style with Marcus. None of that mattered since Connor and Tom had both weaselled their way into the plans and insisted we make it a fun, Saturday night with friends. Not what I had in mind at all.

"Well I just want to have dinner with you so if you come and pick me up in like half an hour, there's no way Tom and Connor will be ready to go that quickly," I whispered into the phone, hoping that the boys weren't able to hear me.

"Okay, I'll leave now then. I didn't realise you were this annoyed about them coming along," Marcus chuckled on the other end, keys jingling in the background.

I sighed, "It's just... This always happens whenever I try and spend time with people individually, they feel like they need to be involved. To be honest, I'm starting to think we just ditch the whole thing, get dinner and go back to your place," I suggested doing my belt up with my phone balancing between my shoulder and ear.

"As much as I would love that, I'm looking forward to the show and meeting some of your friends since mine are obnoxiously interfering at every turn," He laughed, shutting his car door.

"I'm in my car now, Cate so I'll see you in a bit," Marcus said making the corners of my mouth turn up at the nickname he'd chosen for me.

"See you soon," I said disconnecting the phone call and returning to the strenuous task of getting ready for the evening.

I'd decided that I wanted to wear something a little sexier than usual since the last few times Marcus and I had hung out, I'd worn a jumper and the outfit I wore to the footy last night was painfully pedestrian. In a way, tonight was a bit of a date night considering most of it would be spent with Marcus and the show was really the secondary outing. I'd packed a pair of faux leather pants that were incredibly comfy and thought that a sheer top over a plain black push up bra would be a sexy-casual, night out kind of look.

The couple of gold chains I liked to wear suited the outfit nicely and leaving my hair down seemed like the best option since it was going to be a cold Melbourne night again. I pulled on a pair of heeled boots that I loved and the bonus was that they gave me the little extra height I needed since I was dating a fucking giant. I picked up my tried and true leather jacket, flicked my hair out of the collar and decided to re-join Tom and Connor who were watching the soccer in the lounge room.

"Con, could you help me take a photo for my instagram please?" I asked as I walked out of my bedroom.

Connor looked up and nodded, "I can certainly do that," He agreed and workshopped a couple of blank walls that would work best for the background.

"How do you always smell amazing?" He asked, snapping a couple of photos before handing me back my phone.

"Showering and deodorant, you should try it," I retorted back earning a middle finger as he threw himself back down on the couch beside Tom.

"You're a bit keen for this gig, Sull. It's only 6..." Tom stated, twisting his neck to look up at the clock in the kitchen.

Connor scoffed, "This is a classic 'rail me' outfit so I'm assuming she's having a quick rendezvous before the main event," He smirked, annoyingly spot on with his assumptions.

I rolled my eyes involuntarily at both his vulgarity and uncanny ability to read me like a book, "I'll meet you both there at 9," I replied, walking over to the island counter where my bag was so I could transfer everything I needed into a little purse so I didn't have to carry a handbag all night.