𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐄, ackley bridge

04: SLEEPOVER?

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IT WAS 10:00 AT NIGHT WHEN MARNIE GOT OUT OF THE SHOWER. Two fluffy white towels were wrapped around her frame, one on her head, the other around her body, and she'd just opened the window to release all the steam she'd cooped up in the small room.

Her mum was still awake, down in the living room, catching up on episodes of all the TV shows she'd missed while her daughter got ready for bed. She reached over to pull her curtains when she heard a bark come from the front gate - reminding her of how she'd let Sprite out to the toilet before she'd jumped in the shower. He was a very independent dog, he loved to be left to wander on his own and explore the neighbourhood on his own, but sometimes, he ended up feeling a bit too adventurous and was often brought back home by strangers who claimed he'd ended up sniffing around in their garden.

A knock followed after.

Marnie waited for her mum to answer, but when the knocking continued and she called for her mum to get it, she paused her skincare routine and ended up going down the stairs rather irritably herself, scoffing at her mum eating a bowl of crisps with the TV sounding like it was on level 100. "Uh?! You not getting that door?!"

Katherine looked at her daughter like she'd just lied to her that someone was at the door, "the door knocking?!"

"Yes! It still is!" She exclaimed.

"Well go get it!" Her mum encouraged, shooing her away.

Marnie stood with her mouth open. "I'M IN A TOWEL!"

Kathy wasn't getting it, she'd just kicked her feet up. She scoffed and waved her away like she was being silly and immature, "go get it."

Marnie's jaw dropped further even more at her mum's attitude. She dramatically closed the living room door before approaching the front door, hearing her dog yap on the other side.

"Hello?" She was half-hiding behind the door when she came face to face with the visitor, and realised she was allowed to drop the friendly exterior she'd put on when she recognised who it was. "Cory," she encountered, coming out from behind her door, spotting the animal under his arm, "steal my dog?"

"He was sniffing about my garden," he said, holding out his hand that made her dog look like he was a puppy. Sprite's docked-looking tail began waving side to side, stoked to see his owner at the door. ". . think he were about to make it his bathroom."

Marnie took the dog and side-smiled, "my dog only uses the pavement."

"Well, he were beginning to dig a hole in it, then."

"Scared he were gonna dig up all your bodies buried underneath?" She grinned, setting him down on the wooden floor. "Thanks."

"No, thank you," he grinned, glancing her up and down.

A fluffy white towel did wonders for Marnie Cooper: she looked tan against the bright white colour, and taller with the cotton material reaching the top of her thighs, leaving the boy's imagination to wonder. Her face was also as bare as a stone, with not a speck of makeup or false tan on it. Marnie only put tinted moisturiser on her face so she looked a little bit bronzy in school (rather than caking it in foundation every morning), a layer of mascara, and filled her brows in with a pencil, and that was it. She didn't fill her brows in like blocks or suffocate her cheeks with bronzer. When she wore makeup, it was only to enhance her features, which she always did so effortlessly.

Cory could count the faint freckles on her face and was mesmerised by the length of her natural lashes - how long they looked wet. Her brows looked no different to how they did in school, still thick and not coated with Anastasia Beverly Hill Dipbrow, 2 shades too dark. Her lips were plump and smooth looking after the lip scrub she'd just scrubbed over them, and her face, looking as soft and as clean, had the perfect glow with thanks to the softening, cocoa butter moisturiser used on it.