Not Now (Sequel to Man Overboard) *On Hold*

2. I'm Sorry, Please Forgive Me

A/N: I pride myself in the fact that Maylaship thought Tom's best man speech was real

Mark's doorbell chimed throughout the house, causing Ahi to start barking at the noise. I was a little surprised that Mark hadn't programmed the sound to be the riff of "Dammit" honestly.

The small dog ran to the door and I followed him, slightly anxious about who could be at the door. Anne was away for the weekend with Kerry, which was why I was watching Mark's house in the first place. That and Mark trusted me more. Everyone else Mark knew, his friends and management or whoever, were bound to know he was on his honeymoon.

Which probably meant it was a salesperson. I was not good in those types of situations. I never knew how to politely say no and would end up listening to their pitches for what felt like forever. It was something I needed to work on.

"Ahi! Sit!" I commanded, grateful that Mark had trained his pet.

Ahi sat down in front of the windows next to the door. I slowly opened the door, making sure it wouldn't hit him. I eyed him carefully to check that he wouldn't run off down the street, before looking up at Mark's visitor.

"Tom?"

My chest constricted, me feeling even more anxious than I would have if it'd been a stranger at the door. I looked at him with surprise, confused as to why he was here. He was Mark's best friend; he had to know that Mark was out of town.

Tom smiled timidly. "Hi, Willow."

"Mark's still in Hawaii," I frowned. I glanced down at Ahi, as if checking to make sure he was as confused as I was.

"Yeah, I, uh, just wanted to drop this off." Tom lifted his hand to show me a DVD case. "I borrowed it from him a few weeks ago."

I examined the group of teens on the cover before my eyes flickered to the pie in the bottom left corner. I was fairly confident that Tom owned his own copy of American Pie, if not two. And if he didn't, there was no reason he couldn't walk to a Blockbuster to rent one.

"That's a terrible movie," I commented, shaking my head jokingly. Mark had forced me to watch it when it first came out. It actually hadn't been that bad, if you were into that type of humor, which Mark and Tom were. And after being friends with Mark for so long, it had grown on me too.

Tom smiled. "I don't know. It has a pretty fucking awesome soundtrack."

"Oh yeah. Didn't they get Third Eye Blind to do a song?" I raised an eyebrow, a small smirk playing on my lips.

Tom rolled his eyes. "Third Eye Blind didn't get a cameo."

"Such a shame. A band cameo really would've improved the movie."

"I have no idea why they didn't think of that," Tom smirked.

It felt weird to be joking around with him, given how awkward things had been left between us. But it also felt right. Familiar. I hadn't felt like that with Tom in a long time.

It was also a kind of coping mechanism. Neither one of us knew how to address the awkwardness between us, and joking around with each other was a way to act like it wasn't there. Which may not have been the best decision on my part, but I didn't know what to do. I couldn't just avoid Tom forever, and acting so serious around him like I did at the wedding was just as awkward. There was just no balance for how to act around the love of your life when he had found someone else.

"So, um, anyway," Tom spoke, "here's the movie." He held out the DVD towards me and I took it.

"Thanks." Tom nodded and started to turn to leave. I had a split-second debate in my head before I called after him. "Wait! Do you maybe want to come inside?"