Stranger Things Have Happened | Marcus Bontempelli

sixty-seven.

"I was asking my girlfriend, mate," Marcus snarled back at Steven who was sat stunned at his hostile tone and I had to admit that I was speechless too.

Steven held his hands up in defence and as if to say he wasn't trying anything but the look on Marcus' face told me that no matter what either of us said, he'd already drawn his own conclusions.

"I'm gonna leave you to it," Steven said awkwardly as he stood up and brushed the sand off his pants, sending me a coy smirk, "You might need the tequila," He added before picking his shoes up and making his way over to the roaring bonfire.

I darted my eyes up to Marcus who was silently watching Steven walk off before he glanced back down at me with the same expressionless look on his face. For someone who usually seemed unfazed, this was a different side that I hadn't seen before.

"You sure know how to clear a room," I joked, trying to take the sting out of how awkward the vibe was between us.

"Are you fuckin' serious right now?" Marcus replied, eyebrows furrowed and his mouth agape, obviously not pleased with my comment. 

"Well yeah, that was super rude," I answered, peering up at his slowly evolving expression which was becoming a little easier to read. Displeasure was the best way to describe it.

"How am I supposed to react when I walk over here and see you all over some guy, who up until today you never mentioned knowing and he's holding your hand, like... what the hell," He questioned with wide eyes and an accusing tone to his voice.

"He's just a friend," I answered defensively, which caused Marcus to scoff and raise his eyebrows in suspicion. He wasn't having any of it even though I knew deep down that's all Steven will ever be, that ship had sailed and I was glad that it had. 

"A friend you've never mentioned once since we got together," Marcus retorted sarcastically, driving home the point again about not mentioning Steven before as if that made me out to be some kind of liar.

I couldn't help by roll my eyes, "I have a lot of friends who you don't know..." I trailed off, which caused him to take a step closer and lower his voice.

"And that's fine but you have to admit that it's fuckin' suss that you've never mentioned him, especially since you seem hell-bent on hanging out with him over every other person at this party," Marcus returned with his eyes narrowed.

"I haven't seen him in forever and I was surprised that he was here. I really don't know what's happening right now," I groaned, feeling my stomach start to churn and a migraine starting to take hold.

Marcus shook his head, "What's happening is that I came out here to see how you were and I find you practically eye-fucking another dude that's not me..." He shouted, clearly riled up by what he saw.

"I wasn't eye-fucking anyone," I defended as a sceptical laugh left his lips and his eyebrow quirked, still not believing a word I was saying.

"That's what it looked like," He jabbed before I stood up, feeling the need to regain some kind of dominance in the situation, even in my intoxicated state.

"Why are you being like this? You're not the jealous type," I deflected, trying to get to the root of his problem and divert his accusations away from me.

"Well usually it's some creep coming on to you but from where I'm standing, it looked like you were enjoying it," He accused back, his voice deeper and getting angrier by the second.

"You're being ridiculous," I said, brushing him off as I bent down and picked my boots up. The loud exhale that escaped his lips was one of pure frustration as I began walking away from him.