Awks. ✓

Chapter 30: Chunks Of The Sky.

"Well if it isn't the one that got away." Mark crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back on the wall, his eyes locked on mine. "You never called."

Shit Marianne, how are you going to get out of this one?

"How do you call someone if you don't even have their number?" I asked, surprising myself with my own response.

"I wrote it down for you." He reminded me, shifting his weight from one leg to the other. "On your receipt?"

Shoot!! Think Marianne, think!!!!

"Really? I threw it away and didn't even notice that." I scratched the back of my head awkwardly. "I mean, who the hell cares about receipts nowadays?" I laughed nervously, using the exact same words Iyanu had used that day.

Thomas gave me an 'I know you're lying' look and I gave him a 'you better not snitch' one before I refocused my attention on Mark's very, very blue eyes. "What were you doing in there anyways?" I asked, pointing at my grandma's hospital room.

"Oh, right. I was just checking on the lady who's in there." He explained, moving away from the wall and pointing back at the room. "She collapsed in a supermarket I was in and I brought her here. Poor thing just fell.."

His sentence was cut short by my arms wrapping around his neck in an embrace. He seemed to be so surprised by it, he stumbled back a step but quickly regained his posture, returning the hug. I rested my chin on his shoulder and thanked him.

"That's my grandma in there." I told him, returning to my former position next to Thomas, who's presence for some reason suddenly felt more noticeable. My eyes widened as a result of the epiphany that I had just had. "Chunks of the sky!" I screamed, pointing at Mark's face.

I might've startled him a bit. He looked like a confused child. "What?"

"Chunks. Of. The. Sky." I repeated, pointing at both eyes, once at a time with every word. "You were the boy she was talking about." I slapped Thomas on the arm. "He was the boy she was talking about!"

"I think we came to that conclusion a while ago Ria." He deadpanned, patting me on the shoulder.

Right.

"That bracelet on her arm helped a lot." Mark spoke up. "The one that had 'I'm a diabetic' written on it." He was referring to the bracelet my dad forced my grandma to wear at all times, just in case anything were to happen to her while she was out. Thank goodness for that. "Saved me a lot of trouble, that did."

"I honestly can't thank you enough Mark. You have no idea how grateful I am." I smiled.

"Hey, I'm just glad she's okay." He shrugged, a small, genuine smile on his face. "I guess it was a blessing in disguise, seeing that I got to run into you too."

I pursed my lips, not knowing how to really respond to that. Without even thinking, as per usual, I stretched my arm out to him. He raised an eyebrow, his eyes flickering between my hand and my face. "Your phone." I said.

At this point, both his eyebrows were furrowed, forming little crinkles on his forehead. But without any questions, he took out his phone from his back pocket, unlocking it before handing it to me.

A couple of seconds later, I gave it back to him, after accomplishing the task I had set for myself. "There." I said as he took it away from me. "Now you hold the responsibility of calling me."

I smiled at him before heading into my grandma's room, avoiding giving him a chance to speak of my actions. I felt surprisingly good about myself. Was this what being outgoing felt like?