Puzzle Pieces // m.f

0.4

Mark tugged Jamie along with a slightly greater urgency when he saw Matt and Ryan, both quizzically looking around the already thin crowd of people from his flight. He ignored the buzzing of the phone in his pocket (he saw Ryan making a call and just assumed) and put down Jamie's bag, refusing to relinquish his tight grip on her hand, waving frantically in hopes of catching their attention. At the sight of Matt smacking Ryan and taking his phone away to hang up for him (the buzzing stopped and Mark's suspicions were confirmed) his pace became quicker as he dragged her along.

"Mark! It's good to see you!" Ryan smiled, but threw a few subtly questioning glances at Jamie, not wanting to mention her directly since she looked as if she was dying. Mark quickly knelt down and took both of her hands in his.

"Jamie, can you stay here by yourself for a few minutes?" He watched her uncertain nodding, reading more into the unveiled fear in her eyes that she couldn't hide. "No more than five minutes; I promise. I'll just be right over there."

Jamie closed her eyes and nodded with more force, not wanting Mark to feel that she was interfering with his ability to talk to his friends. He was still hesitant to leave her, but he stood and beckoned to a space several feet away. Matt and Ryan followed, both noting how Mark's eyes never left the nervous girl for more than a second at a time.

"That's Jamie."

"Who is Jamie?" Matt looked genuinely concerned for Mark's mental health as he spoke, but he didn't elaborate at all.

"She's an incredibly sweet girl that I met on the flight and -please hear me out- I think that she should stay with us." Matt and Ryan followed Mark's flickering gaze to where the girl was now sitting in the floor and staring blankly at the carpet while visibly shaking. "She's a fan, but she wasn't crazy. I didn't even know she had any idea who I was for a while. She's just had a very long day and, to be honest, I think it would cause more problems for her than us."

"Mark, I really don't-" Ryan was cut off by Mark's slightly too loud voice and slightly too dramatic hand gestures.

"Just-" Mark stopped himself when he heard how loud he was and lowered his hands to rest tensely at his sides, fists clenching and unclenching repeatedly as he watched Jamie from the corner of his eyes. "Just get to know her today. Please."

Ryan and Matt shared a quick look before tersely nodding and turning back towards Jamie, who was clearly trying too hard to not look over at them and repeatedly zipping and unzipping her carry on bag. Before they could turn back to Mark, he was jogging back to the younger girl.

"Hey, I'm right here. It's okay. Ryan and Matt are good guys." Mark continued to mumble barely heard assurances to Jamie, who wasn't even listening at this point, just nodding and trying to breathe.

She wasn't necessarily scared of the other two boys, both of whom were standing a respectable distance away. It was the fact that she had an inherent fear of talking to new people and messing it up or saying something that would upset them. Jamie had a very forthright way of speaking, and sometimes her forwardness was seen as off putting or rude.

The four steadily trailed off to the baggage claim, Mark with one arm wrapped protectively around Jamie's waist and his other hand on her arm, gently leading her through the crowd of people. Ryan and Matt spoke with Mark briefly about his trip, neither of them directly addressing Jamie for fear of making her uncomfortable, but they made sure to not ignore her either, since that would have been just as bad, if not worse.