On Monday morning, Marjorie woke up feeling worse for wear. She'd spent most Saturday crying her eyes out and on Sunday, she drank until the tears stopped falling from her eyes. There was no way she was going into work. Not only because she had the world's worst hangover, but because she couldn't face seeing Autumn. The last time she saw the woman, she was ready to tell her how she felt. She was going to take Siobhan's advice and tell Autumn that she had feelings for her. She picked up a bottle of Autumn's favourite wine and headed over. Autumn answered the door and seemed a bit disheveled, which Marjorie didn't think much of until she saw the waitress from the bar stood behind her in nothing but her underwear and a baggy T-shirt.
When Marjorie had left the bar on Friday, she felt pretty good. She was ready to admit her feelings, not only to Autumn but to herself. Siobhan was right, she couldn't let the other woman get away without knowing how she felt. After talking to Mia, she was confident that Autumn felt the same way about her. In Mia's words, "Ive seen Aut grow up. I've seen her have little crushes on girls. What i have never seen is the way she looks at you."
Eventually, Marjorie was ready to head home and Autumn said she was going to stay behind and have a few more drinks. She didn't expect her to bring the waitress home. She didn't expect to be upset and she really didn't expect to feel like she had her heart ripped out of her chest.
Marjorie picked up her phone and called the nursery praying that the receptionist, Agatha, would answer and not Autumn. "Hello, The Knight Nursery." Agatha said, picking up the phone after only 3 rings. Marjorie sighed in relief. The last thing she wanted right now was to talk to Autumn, who had been blowing up her phone all weekend. "Hiya Agatha, it's Marjorie. I'm not gonna be able to come in today. I've got a nasty cold." She said, faking a cough down the phone. Marjorie knew it was childish of her to avoid her problems like this but she couldn't care less. If she saw Autumn today, she'd probably end up quitting her job on the spot.
The next few hours were about as good as they could be. She had 2 new missed calls from Autumn, along with a text saying 'get well soon'. Marjorie ignored her. She didn't have the strength to pretend everything was okay today. She just wanted to stay curled up under her covers, praying that her mattress would swallow her whole. She made her way across her flat to her kitchen, grabbing a glass and filling it with water.
KNOCK KNOCK
Placing her cup on the counter, Marjorie headed to her door. She had ordered a few bits from Amazon and assumed that they had arrived. She unlocked her door and froze when she saw Autumn stood there, hair dripping and coat soaked through from the rain. "Can I come in?" The woman asked. "Now isn't a good time." Marjorie replied. She didn't feel like talking to Autumn. She didn't even want to see her face. "Seriously Marjorie, I'm worried about you. What's going on? Did I do something wrong?" Marjorie was seething. Was she honestly asking if she did something wrong? Was she that oblivious? Taking in a deep breath to keep herself from screaming, Marjorie looked in Autumn's eyes. "Now isn't a good time. Can you leave?" She managed to keep herself from sounding angry but she knew deep down that Autumn knew her too well. "I'm not going anywhere till you tell me what's wrong. You can try and shut me out emotionally, or you can do it physically. Slam the door in my face, go for it! But I'm not going anywhere. Friends are there for each other Marj."
Friends.
"Autumn, you're a very smart woman. I'm sure you can figure out why I'm upset without me having to bloody spell it out." Marjorie crossed her arms over her chest and stared at Autumn. "Come on. I ain't got all day!" The other woman just stood there. "You started crying on Saturday. You started crying when you saw Sara. Please just tell me what's going on, I'm not a mind reader." Autumn said, her voice cracking. Marjorie had never seen the woman show so much emotion. She felt bad. She didn't want to upset Autumn. But when she heard that woman's name, all reason left went out of the window once again. "Jesus Christ Autumn!" Marjorie yelled, "I'm not fucking doing this. I called in sick so I wouldn't have to see you. I've been avoiding your calls and texts for days. Seeing your face makes me want to scream. Seeing you with another woman makes me want to die. Is that what you want to hear?! How much you've hurt me? How much I've cried over the last 3 days? How, no matter how hard I try, I can't fucking hate you?! How I was falling in love-" She stopped, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her hoodie. Autumn was pale, her eyes wide and glossed over. "Marj, I-" She started but Marjorie put her hand up. "I already said I'm not doing this. Can you just leave, please." She said. There was no emotion in her voice, no sadness or anger left. Just ice.
Autumn nodded and turned, heading towards her car. "I'm sorry." She called out, her voice dampened by the rain crashing against the ground. Marjorie shut her door and leant her back against it. Suddenly everything started to weigh on her again. The tears she wouldn't let fall began to stream down her cheeks, her body slowly sliding down to the floor, feeling heavy with all the emotions she was feeling. She watched Autumn's car pull out of the driveway through tear brimmed eyes, rain trickling down her window pane. The memory of what Siobhan said on Friday replayed in her mind.
At least she told Autumn how she felt.
———
A/N
Sorry, it's another depressing chapter!
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Masquerade || A Marjumn Story
FanficThe masquerade ball at the Knight Family Estate was set to be the same as it was every year. Autumn arrived thinking she would spend the night wallowing alone and god was she wrong.
