OUT OF THE PICTURE

Chapter Three || Marlin

Scanning through her phone, Marlin had already 23 unread emails from Ryan-- her terrifying boss, and it was all work related. She couldn't help but to frown, it had not been 24 hours since she left the office, she even worked overtime today. Please, she thought. It's Saturday, leave me alone!

She heaved a sigh of annoyance. Creep by Radiohead that the DJ chose to play at this moment didn't turn her on-- and she didn't get why, it was usually her jam.

She was feeling uncomfortable with these lovebirds right next to her. They had been whispering with each other's ear and had to do that annoying giggle after.

Marlin hated third wheeling so much. But obviously, Sarah didn't care about it because she was too busy entertaining Ivan.

Finding out that he was not her date eight minutes ago made her a little upset. She thought it would be less frustrating if this time her date was not a stranger. But she got over it after. Now she just wanted to go home and jump on her comfy queen-sized bed and have a good relaxing night rest.

And in the middle of her daydreaming, she made the loudest yelp when a stiletto heel stabbed her left foot. Sarah and Ivan stopped at whatever it was they were doing and turned to her, with both questioning look. Great, she hated attention.

"What?" Sarah asked.

"Nothing" Marlin's little voice answered with a wince. She didn't bother explaining.

"Mars, that face of yours is surely something. Now spill it out." It saved her from talking when Sarah's phone rang. "Hang on I have to get this" She moved to the side to take the call.

Marlin diverted her attention back to her unfortunate foot then to the table, and found a pair of dark solemn eyes gazing back at her. She realized Ivan was still looking at her.

She smiled shyly and he did the same. Beginning to feel the awkwardness in the air, she right away grabbed her phone and did the 'fake texting' technique.

Silence filled in the space between them in the middle of this deafening crowd and music.

She glanced at him from time to time while pretending that she was on her phone, but the boy's eyes didn't move a bit. She couldn't play with this staring game anymore.

"Hey" Ivan finally said, corners of his mouth raised.

She smiled back. "Hi--" Before she could finish, she felt a hand pulled her. The next thing she knew, she was being dragged into a crazy crowd.

"C'mon he's here!" Sarah exclaimed as she kept pulling her.

"Can we slow down? My feet hurt like hell!" She whined loudly competing with all the noise around.

"No can do." Sarah said firmly, shaking her head. "The guy is already there, near the entrance. Waiting for you."

Her friend squealed excitedly, then started to drag her again.

She looked back to where Ivan was and saw him waving off smiling. She groaned irritably and had no choice but to follow Sarah.

They reached the location near the door and couldn't help but to notice a guy who was flawlessly leaning against the wall while giving his full attention to his phone. As she was enjoying her view from afar, the guy unexpectedly looked up to their direction and flashed a smile. Confusion came about to her.Wait, do I know this guy? If yes, how could I forget his gorgeous beyond gorgeous face? It's not like I have plenty of them in my life, her mind popped up out of nowhere. Then without any warning, he waved at them and started coming closer.

When he was close enough, Sarah surprisingly approached him.

"Dwayne! Oh my God how are you? Long time no see." Sarah exclaimed as they gave each other a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Never been better. How about you? Looking good huh, as always." He matched his compliment with a bright beam.

"Oh stop it!" Sarah replied in a flirtatious tone as she hit him softly. Marlin rolled her eyes and watched them exchanged laughs.

Straight to her was incredibly tall and undeniably great looking fella. Looking dashing in his navy blue sweater that was perfectly matched with slim fit chinos and a pair of oxford. Standing there impressively with hands in his pockets, he looked like one of those wealthy successful guys.

"And oh, Mars, say hi to Dwayne, Dwayne this is my friend Marlin." Sarah introduced with a full-teasing smile pinned on her face.

And when the poor guy was about to say something, he was halted. "Be careful, she has this very strong charm." Sarah warned him.

Marlin shot a piercing stare at her.

The guy just laughed then he finally turned to her. "Marlin, nice name." He flattered. "Hi." He offered his hand while flashing his perfect white teeth.

She didn't bother to answer, she didn't even lift her hand. She could see Sarah glaring at her.

And after a second or two, Sarah's arms were all over her squeezing her hard as she was forcing a laugh. "Sorry Dwayne. But my friend here is a little shy." Sarah said faking a smile, squeezing her harder and enlarging her eyeballs at her.

"No I'm not." She protested as she shook away her friends's hands.

"Yes, you are." Sarah's eyes silently murdering her.

Dwayne cracked a laugh, but still in his decent mannerly way. "That's okay. I'm sure Marlin and I will get along."

"I'm sure you do" Sarah smacked him lightly and flirtatiously. Then the blonde surprisingly waved her hand up in the air as if she was gesturing someone.

Marlin looked over to see who was coming and saw Ivan walking towards them.

"Hey guys." A masculine figure greeted as soon as he arrived.

She caught Ivan shot a quick glance at her.

"And oh Dwayne..." Sarah wrapped her arms around his boy's limb. "This is my good friend Ivan."

"Oh hey man, what's up!" The guys pulled each other into this weird guy hug thing.

When everybody got to know everybody, Dwayne's attention turned to her and that was when she realized that he had a pair of attractive round hazel eyes that appeared more green at that moment.

"So Marlin, you still go to school?"

"No, I graduated two years ago."

"Oh that's great. Which high-school were you in?"

Marlin almost gasped. This guy's unbelievable. "I was in college two years ago." She said flatly.

"Oh really?!" He laughed awkwardly. "Sorry it's just that...you look...uhm...young"

She did an obvious fake laugh then darkened her expression as she crossed her arms. "Well, I'm not."

He chuckled as he skillfully looped his arm around her waist "You know your friend was right, you are charming"

"And you're fast." Marlin blunted as she took it right away.

And by that, everyone was silent. It was a dead-end conversation.

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Sorry the first few chapters are sloppy.