Freckled Love (a JeanMarco AU)

Chapter Seven

One day, when Jean came back to his dorm from his final Friday class, Marco was just getting ready to go, about four different things in his hands.

"Hi!" He smiled. "I'm a little late, so I have to get going..."

"Oh. Do you want a ride?" Jean asked. "It's not a whole lot faster, but it may help."

"That'd be great," Marco said, smiling. "But if you're sure, we gotta leave right now."

"Yeah, I'm sure." Jean took some of the things from Marco's arms, and they walked quickly down to Jean's truck. He started the engine and quickly pulled out of the parking lot, doing his best to go fast without actually breaking the speed limit. Luckily the café was just a couple of blocks away, and there wasn't as much traffic as usual. "I just wanna remind you that Ashton is supposed to come down tonight, and I'm meeting up with him tomorrow, so I may be gone a lot this weekend."

"Yeah that's fine," Marco assured him. "Maybe I'll get the chance to meet him!"

"Yeah, maybe. How late are you working today? It seems your boss has been making you stay late a lot recently," Jean said. He pulled into a parking space close to the café, and Marco opened his door.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I'll let you know, though. Thank you so much for the ride!"

"No problem. See ya."

Marco hurried into the café, waving to Jean before finally shutting the door. Jean backed out of the parking space, and began to drive back to the dorm building. It got lonely on Fridays now that Marco worked late, and Jean had the whole weekend to do his homework. He knew he could do it that night, but he was a bit of a procrastinator.

Jean picked up dirty clothes around the dorm, just in case Ashton decided to come over early. Tomorrow they were going to meet up at the hotel he was going to stay at this weekend. Jean had originally thought of letting Ashton stay in their dorm, but there were some complications about policies, and he really didn't want to ask Marco to let some stranger invade his space for a full weekend. Space in their dorm was already really limited.

Jean knew it must sound like he was obsessed with Ashton or something; during meals with all of his friends and spare time with Marco he couldn't shut up about how his high-school best friend was coming to visit. Then he always ended up apologizing to Marco for rambling about him, and Marco would forgive him. And Jean would say something weird and sappy like, "he was my best friend in high school, but you're my best friend now." And Marco would smile and say something like, "Thanks, Jean."

It got later and later, and the sun came closer and closer to escaping behind the horizon. Jean finally decided to work on a paper that was due, munching on a granola bar and drinking coffee. Marco still hadn't come back, but Connie had stopped by to see if Marco wanted to hang out. Because only Jean was there, they just hung out for a few hours instead. Then Connie invited Jean to another one of his parties, which was happening that night. He replied with, "Maybe."

But now, as it neared eight o'clock, Jean was alone again. God, he thought, I really need a girlfriend. He thought about the girls he knew. There was Emma from Photography class. She was really nice to him, and he was pretty sure if he asked, she'd go on a date with him. There was also Mona, whom he didn't share any classes with but knew from the party. Considering how much she groped Jean that night, he was pretty sure she was single and even a bit desperate.

So he decided to go to the party after all. He slipped on his coat, made sure he looked okay in the mirror, and got his keys to drive to Connie's. This time he promised himself he wouldn't drink anything.

He remembered Connie's huge house as soon as he saw it, and really hoped Collin wouldn't be there. It seemed that the party was already in full-swing, with dancing and drinking and kissing. Ah, college. It's a magical place, if you know where to go.