The Intern

Chapter Thirteen: Date With Mark

   I wake up the next morning with my clothes from the previous day still on. I had just flopped onto my bed last night without even thinking and fell asleep. I take a shower, brush my hair, and change into skinny jeans and a Batman t-shirt. I walk out into the living room and turn the TV on. I turn on Netflix and click on Supernatural. 
   I brew some coffee and pour a bowl of cereal. I plop back on the couch with my coffee and cereal and enjoy Supernatural. My phone dings from the coffee table. I pick it up. I have a new text from Mark. 

   Hey. Today's the day of our date :D I was thinking of picking you up around 3-ish

   Yeah. Sounds good to me :) See you then!

   I watched Supernatural all day until it was time for me to get ready for my date with Mark. I look in my closet for something to wear. Not too formal, but not casual. I sigh and fall backwards onto my bed. I'll never pick the right outfit, I think to myself. Screw it. I pick out a black, frilly tank top with a white belt that goes around my mid-section and a pair of blue skinny jeans. I walk into the bathroom and quickly straighten my hair pinning my bangs back. A knock sounds at the door. I grab my purse and slip on my converse. What? I can look nice and wear converse at the same time.
   "You look great, Ella," Mark says with a charming smile.
   "So do you," I say smiling, taking my chance to check him out. He chuckles and grabs my hand, leading me out to his car. He opens the passenger door for me and shuts it once I sit down. I smile. What a gentleman. He gets into the drivers seat and starts the engine. He pulls out of the parking lot and starts going down the road. 
   "So, where are we going exactly?" I ask curiously. 
   "It's a secret," he says with a wink. 
   "I'm good at keeping secrets," I joke. He laughs. 

   We pull up to a run down looking building. 
   "Here we are!" Mark says with a bright smile. 
   "Where exactly is here?" I ask. 
   "This place looks bad on the outside, I know, but it's awesome on the inside," he says. He gets out of the car and opens my door for me. I smile and walk with him up to the building. He opens the door for me. He was right, the inside was awesome. There were at least a hundred arcade game machines in here. I gawk at the sight. This was a gamer's paradise. "I know the owner too. Cool guy. He cleared the place out tonight, just for us."
   "Aw, you didn't have to make him do that," I say with a smile. 
   "I know, but I don't go on many dates and he and I go way back," he says wrapping an arm around me. "So... What first?" 
   "We definitely have to play Pac-Man. He's like the king of arcade games!" I exclaim running over to the machine. Mark pops in two quarters and I start to play. I got a score of 55,520. 
   "Ha beat that," I say cheering and doing a little dance. 
   "Maybe I will," Mark says. putting two more quarters in the machine. He beats my score by a few hundred. 
   "No fair," I whine jokingly. 
   "All's fair in love and Pac-Man," he says with a small laugh. I laugh at his stupid saying and move on to the next game. We play almost all the machines, reminiscing on our childhoods filled with video games. 

   "To the next stop!" Mark says after we play the last game. 
   "Next stop?" I ask. "I thought we were just coming here?" 
   "Nope! It's only 6:30. I've got two more stops for us," he says. 

   We pull up to a small diner on the outskirts of L.A. "What's here?"
   "They have the most amazing cheeseburgers. You won't even believe how good they are," he beams like a kid. I smile.
   "Just the two of ya?" the waitress asks as we walk in the door. Mark nods and she leads us to a booth towards the back of the small diner. She hands us our menus and walks off to help some other customers. The place was pretty packed. It seems like everyone in L.A. was here at the moment. 
   "Well, I'm just gonna get their amazing cheeseburger," Mark says without looking at the menu. 
   "I'll get one too, since you won't stop talking about them," I giggle. He smiles at me. The waitress comes back to our table and takes our order. 
   "So, what were you doing before you came here?" Mark asks. 
   "Well, I was going to college in Michigan and I worked at a hardware store," I say. "I also made YouTube videos, but I didn't have that many subscribers until I joined Smosh Games." Mark nods seeming interested in my boring life. We talked and got to know each other until our food came. 
   Mark stares at me as I pick up the burger. I look at him. "What?"
   "Try it," he insists. "It's amazing." I take a bite and the taste was actually awesome. 
   "Oh my god!" I squeal. He chuckles.
   "See? I told you it was amazing," he says taking a bite of his burger.

   We finish our food and Mark pays the bill. He grabs my hand as we walk back to his car. "One more stop," he says. 
   "What could honestly make this night even better?" I ask. He smiles and we continue to his car. 
   "You'll see."
   Mark pulls up to a house. His house, I'm assuming. We get out of the car. I walk over to him.
   "Mark," I say. He stops me as if he knows exactly what I'm thinking. 
   "It's not that," he says. "Dirty mind." I laugh. 
   "What are we doing at your house?"
   "Come with me," he says leading me to the backyard. A projector is set up with Minecraft projecting onto a screen. 
   "Minecraft?" I ask. He grabs a bottle of wine from a cooler next to the picnic table. He pours two glasses and hands one to me. I take a sip and grab a controller, turning it on. 
   "I wanted to be player one," Mark whines jokingly. 
   "Too bad," I stick my tongue out at him. He laughs and grabs the other controller. We sit on a blanket in the middle of his backyard playing Minecraft until about midnight. 
   "I should probably bring you home, huh?" Mark asks. I shake my head. 
   "We've been drinking. I'll get an uber or something," I say. 
   "Or you could crash here," Mark says scooting closer to me and laying a hand over mine. I smile. 
   "Mark, I-" He leans in and kisses me for a few seconds, then pulls away. 
   "I-I'm sorry, Ella, I shouldn't have-"
   "It's okay. I'll crash here tonight. I'll take the couch though," I say getting up from the blanket. Mark stands up. 
   "No. Take my bed, I'll sleep on the couch," he says. 
   "I'll be fine on the couch, I promise."
   "I can't let a beautiful girl like you sleep on the lumpy couch," he insists. 
   "Well, that's just too damn bad," I say moving closer to him and looking up at him. I put my hands on my hips. "What are you gonna do about it?" Mark immediately picks me up and brings me into the house. He sets me on the bed and runs out of his bedroom. I run after him and he's already lying down on the couch. 
   "Claimed," he says putting his hands under his head and looking up at him. I'm too tired to fight him, so, I just trudge back to his room and collapse on his bed.