𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐘 | 𝐦. 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧

9

Tonya's POV

I didn't want to walk home with Jermaine, so I said it. I didn't mean to, but it just came out, and I'm a little glad it did because Marlon began walking over to me. "Wait, for real?" He asks like he's shocked at me answer. "Yeah..? Why're you acting like you've never walked me home before?" I ask him, and he seems to straighten up at this. "Oh. I don't know. I just, thought you wanted to walk with Jermaine or something," he replies.

His answer is confusing me, "why would you think that?" I ask him. He just shrugs, looking back towards his brothers. I can see Jermaine's facial expression change into something like frustration or anger. I'm really unsure why. Did he want to walk me home? He's never asked to before...

Marlon waves goodbye to his brothers, and so do I. "I'll be back soon, guys, I'm gonna walk Tonya home for the night," he explains to them and they make sounds of agreement. I see Randy wink at me, but it goes unnoticed by everyone else. Oh, gosh.. did he know that I liked Marlon?

Flashback...
"Man, don't just force her into the game," Randy says, looking over at me. "Are you up for it, Tonya?" He asks me, and I ponder for a little. What's the worst that could happen if we just play truth or dare? No one'll get hurt, and Joseph doesn't seem to care as long as I'm here, so what the heck? "Sure, as long as Marlon's playing," I say without thinking. I look over at Marlon who seems to have not noticed the words I uttered. Why... did I say that? Randy now has a confused but sly expression but he doesn't say anything about what I said.

No, there's no way he would have gathered that from just a simple sentence I said. Or could he? Before my mind could race anymore, I feel Marlon's arm wrap around me, snapping me out of my thoughts. I tried to contain my nervousness. I almost wish I didn't like him this way because now I find myself overthinking every little thing I do around him. I wonder if he likes me too, but there's no way, right? I just know he's got tons of girls all over him, so many girls to choose from when he's out on tour. Why would he just settle for plain ol' me? Besides, we've been best friends for years, there's no way he could think of me as more than that.

"Tonya?" I hear Marlon calling my name, which halts my thoughts again. "Yeah?" I ask. He grins at me, "ready to go?" he looks at me expectantly. "Yeah, let's go," I tell him, and we both make our way out the door. Marlon tells his brothers to let Joseph know that he's walking me home just in case he asks, before we leave.

We're walking down the neighborhood sidewalk now, and it's awkwardly quiet. I'm not sure what to say as I've just realized my newfound feelings for my best friend not too long ago, so it's kind of hard to act normal. "Man, what a day," I hear Marlon say ecstatically, breaking the silence, clasping his hands together in happiness. "Right, Ton?" He looks over at me and I nod. I feel like I'm blushing right now. I'm thankful to have a dark complexion because I don't know what I'd do if he saw it.

"I went to your house, I saw your mom, we went to the park, you came over to my house, we had dinner with my family, and we played board games! And now I get to walk my favorite girl home," Marlon giddily smiles at me, and I can't help but smile back at him. His smile was always the most contagious. "I haven't had a good day all the way through in a while. But they're always good when I'm with you." What is this boy doing to me? I feel like I'm in a romance movie right now..

A comfortable silence settles over us, well, maybe comfortable for Marlon. It felt different for me now. My mind drifts off to when we held hands on the way to The Jackson family household. If his family wouldn't go crazy about it, would he have not let go of my hand? Of course he would've let go. Best friends don't hold hands. I couldn't fight my curiosity though. Hesitantly, I grab a hold of Marlon's hand. He looks at me, a little surprise in his expression, but his kind smile doesn't fade.

I feel him intertwine our fingers together, giving my hand a gentle squeeze as he continues on ranting about the day like us holding hands was a completely normal occurrence. I feel warm inside.