𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐀𝐆𝐍𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐌𝐒, k.jacobs

FOURTEEN.

FOURTEEN ;
not fair

real life !

By the time Sunday had come around, Marley had nearly talked herself into pretending to be sick just so she could miss the inevitably awkward small talk she knew both of them would try to make at dinner.

Admittedly, she hadn't felt this nervous to be around Karl in the entire six years she had known him. Not even their first date ( which was pretty disastrous ) had made her this nervous.

Marley didn't want to admit it, but a big part of didn't think things were ever going to go back to normal. Not completely. Even if he finally clarified what he actually meant and fixed things, she wasn't entirely sure the overwhelming hurt she felt wouldn't linger.

She had gone through the motions of getting ready in a daze. They had never verbally agreed on a time, but both had assumed that seven pm still worked, just like it always had.

Karl had showed up at seven on the dot. When she opened the door, all nerves she felt were immediately replaced by a mix of nostalgia and a weird combination of aching fondness.

They were matching. Accidentally, considering they hadn't really talked to each other at all after he had initially asked to go to dinner. It was something that had happened so often while they were together that they didn't even try to purposely coordinate outfits, it usually just happened. It became an inside joke of sorts for them, mostly because the two years they spent as just friends was filled with laughter as they talked about how they would never be in a relationship where they purposely matched every outfit they wore.

But they never did it on purpose, so that didn't apply to them.

"Old habits die hard, I guess," he joked when he noticed the light blue she was wearing that was nearly identical to the shade of his shirt. "Kind of funny how this is still happening, huh?"

Marley nodded, "God, seventeen year old Mars would think we were so lame."

He grinned and offered her his arm which she gladly took. "Seventeen year old Karl would still think you were the prettiest girl he's ever seen. You look great tonight, Mars—not that you don't always look great! But...you get what I mean."

She laughed softly as she got in his car, feeling more than relieved that the night was off to a pretty good start.

The restaurant they ended up at was a small family owned one they had been regulars at for a while now. She wasn't really surprised when they had pulled into the familiar parking lot, and judging by the careful glances he kept giving her, Karl was clearly nervous she wouldn't be happy about it.

"I know this was our place when we were...you know. But we both love it and I just really don't want tonight to be weird so I figured it would probably be our best bet. Unless you hate it! No big deal if you do, by the way! We can go somewhere fancy and...well, I didn't really dress for fancy, but I think we could make it work, don't you? Might get a couple of weird looks, but I don't think it's enough to get us kicked out or anything."

Marley sighed and offered him a reassuring smile, "Karl, you said it yourself. We both love this place. You already know that i'll never say no to this place. If I ever did you should know that I have clearly lost my mind and the right thing to do would be to," she paused and drew a line across her throat with her thumb . "You know?"