Stranger Things Have Happened | Marcus Bontempelli

one-hundred & thirty.

The lapping of waves hitting the shoreline outside our window and the shuffling of bare feet on the carpeted floor woke me up from what was otherwise a peaceful slumber. It'd been a while since I'd woken up from a good nights sleep and it had everything to do with the secure arms that had been securely tangled around my torso all night. The dip in the bed as Marcus crawled back under the covers and his hands smoothing over my cool skin made me smile to myself, loving the feeling of his warm touch.

"Morning," I rasped with my eyes still closed.

"Finally," Marcus whispered back before nuzzling his face into the crook of my neck with a chaste kiss, causing his wispy beard to tickle my skin, "Good morning baby."

I chuckled and placed my hands over his, bringing them further up my body and pulling him closer. It was a cold, winter morning and he'd let out all of the warmth we'd secured throughout the night when he got up to feed the dogs downstairs. But he was making up for it with a snuggle and I literally could've stayed in that bed for the rest of my life – I had zero motivation to do anything and he knew that.

"You fell asleep as soon as your head hit the pillow," He whispered into my ear, brushing his hands over my stomach under the large shirt I'd thrown on last night.

I hummed, "Because I was worn out. Who knew that climbing into a tree house would require that much energy," I smirked and Marcus chuckled, no doubt casting his mind back to last night's escapades.

"Worth it though..." He cheekily replied and I nodded in agreement before taking a deep breath.

"Was anyone else up when you went downstairs?" I asked, mindlessly tracing my thumb over his warm arm.

"Only Libba and Woody who were feeding Oz and Nala... Actually you'll love this – apparently Rocky's been instigating affections from Nala and Woody thinks I need to give him the talk," Marcus replied with a teasing tone as I craned my neck around and quirked an eyebrow.

"Is he really? I think they look cute together," I joked back, making Marcus laugh before I pulled myself up from the gloriously soft pillows.

"I'm never getting up if you don't make me," I mumbled and stretched my arms above my head – a dramatic yawn escaping my lips as I arched my spine.

Marcus fell back onto the pillows and watched with a smirk, "Maybe I don't want ya to get up – everyone's so boring in the morning and you're fun," He flirted before hooking his arm around my waist and pulling me against his cotton covered chest.

"I am pretty fun, aren't I?" I returned with a smirk as I tilted my head back and placed a firm kiss to Marcus' neck.

"The most fun – last night was fuckin' amazing. Really took me back to the days when we would sneak around together," He replied with a wistful look in his soft brown eyes.

I cupped his cheek and twisted my body around so I could properly look into his eyes, "This whole trip is giving me Inverloch 2018 vibes and it's making me a little mushy... I would've changed so much about that trip if I had my time over," I confessed and Marcus furrowed his brows.

"Like what?" He asked gently before I shuffled back and leaned against the bedhead with a shrug.

"Admitted to myself that you were the one for starters – would've saved us both a lot of heartache. And actually listen to literally everyone around us saying that we were clearly more than just two strangers sleeping together," I said with a smirk, causing Marcus to chuckle under his breath.

"Well that last thing should've been obvious to us but I dunno – you had places to be and they weren't in Melbourne so I don't really think we could've changed anything... And who knows, maybe if we had of kept going the way we were, we never would've taken it to the next level," Marcus suggested with a shrug. He had a point.