Life Changes » Marcus Armstrong

Twentyfive.

Marcus.

The face of Jane lightened up when she saw his name popping up on her phone. A smile curved on her face, and she got up from the sofa, ready to walk to her room. She accepted the FaceTime call.

"Hello," Jane happily said.

A smile grew on Marcus his face. "Babe," he said and scanned her face. "Your face looks better." It was less swollen, but still blue.

"Yeah, luckily," she said and closed the door of her bedroom behind her. "It doesn't hurt that much anymore, and it is less swollen." She sat down behind her desk and put on the desk light. Jane squeezed her eyes closed. "Oh, Jesus, I didn't expect it this bright."

Marcus smirked about the moment; dork. The light gave a good look on Jane's face. "That's good to hear. But how are you? How is Iceland?" He was lying on his stomach on the sofa.

She nodded and licked her lips. "I'm fine," she answered. "It's good to be home, to see mum, dad and my brothers... I feel like I am rested, even though I just arrived here a couple of days ago. And you?" Jane looked at the time; she had one hour left. "I'm gonna do my makeup at the same time, by the way."

"Sure," he said. "I'm alright, making long days at the factory. I'm glad it's Saturday," he breathed.

"Is everything looking good for the first race?" Jane put her hair up and grabbed her makeup products. She never wore a lot of makeup, but she had to cover up the bruises. The focus of today's look was on her cheek, not the eyes or lips. "Are you looking forward to it?"

"I can't wait to sit in the car and drive around."

"Wait, that was a stupid question," she mumbled; of course, he was excited.

He smiled. "Just a few more weeks," he said. "The break was way too long."

"And you will be in F2," she told him and shared an exciting look.

"I will be in F2..." The realisation just hit Marcus. "Fuck, I will be in F2." It was silence. He noticed Jane was looking at him, she looked proud. "It's just... The last step before F1."

Jane nodded. He looked so adorable, the smile on his face was noticeable in his eyes, and that said a lot... "You'll be there before you know it," she said. "But first, enjoy this season and make memories."

"I absolutely will..." Marcus looked at Jane, she was carefully applying primer on her face.

"Oh," she suddenly said. "We passed the background story thingy. 89 points out of 100, so we nailed it."

"Why not 100? I mean, we wrote the best story ever."

"Because professors never give 100 points."

It was silence.

"Nonsense," Marcus blurted. "But we nailed it! You did a good job, babe," he proudly said. "My family liked it, they said it read nicely and that it felt personal." He raised his eyebrows, showing it was a good thing.

"Dream team," she confidently said. "And thanks, but we did our best. Hard work pays off."

"Are you going to do something?" He was curious, since Jane was doing her makeup. And he assumed that she was going somewhere...

"I'm gonna have..." Jane stopped talking and sighed, how do you call it in English? "Like snacking with my brothers. Jack is probably gonna announce he will be moving to Italy or something to make a film."

He nodded. "How did they react when they saw you? And your parents. I'm sorry, you don't have to answer it. It's personal," he mumbled.

"No, no, it's fine," Jane said. "My dad and oldest brother are police officers, so they were close on calling Italy and ask for a story. And the others... Worried, but they are glad I'm here and that you guys were there at that moment. So thank you again, also on behalf of my family."