Princess & the Player

twenty-six: for real

a/n: all the steamy bits!

Marco's POV:

Sex in a sling was not as kinky as it sounded. 

But everything with Maggie was new, anyway, so it was just one more adventure. By Sunday afternoon, we were exhausted and sore. She made us lunch while I worked on my BestTek presentation. Then she curled up with her phone for a while.

"You winning?"

"Uh huh," she put down her phone and stretched. "Not playing. I think you were right about Jeb; he needs a phone. He hasn't returned any of my messages and they should have gotten back to Nana Scott's from the RV park ages ago."

"I don't get it. Doesn't she have wifi?Like, isn't Jacob an IT guy?"

"Well, he fixed stuff at the Media Center on campus for ten years. But Nana Scott lives in the boonies and uses a satellite dish for her TV. Not sure what he can do about that."

"He was stupid to risk that job."

"He's not exactly a big thinker. Consequences always seem like a big surprise to him."

"Huh. Weird. That's nothing like Scottie. Or you, for that matter."

"I'm the one who sees the consequences a mile away. Jacob and mom call me 'little miss buzzkill'." 

"How sweet," I rolled my eyes. Maggie's parents were useless. I glanced down at an incoming text. "Hey, my boss from New York City, Stephen, wants to see this place."

"What, now?"

"No. He's flying in tonight for the meeting at BestTek tomorrow. He'd like to stop by after that and see it, maybe take a few pictures. There's a venture capitalist who may be with him. That OK with you?"

"It's your place," she shrugged. "Do you want me to take a long walk while you're here?"

"Uh, no. Don't be ridiculous. After, we're going out for dinner. Some place down by the river."

"OK."

She was oblivious. I closed my laptop and turned to face her. "Maggie? I'd like to get this place a little fixed up because some people would like to tour it tomorrow. Then, afterwards, would you be ok with us all going to dinner?"

"Won't it just be work?"

"Not the dinner."

"But not me."

"Yes, you."

"No. All I have is this t-shirt and my jean shorts. I don't know anything about architecture or sustainability or anything. I barely graduated high school! No, Marco."

I groaned. "Maggie, we'll buy you a dress. It will be fine."

"This isn't about shopping!!" She got up and stomped out the door. 

Slam.

I waited a few moments.

I waited a few more.

She was really pissing me off.

Finally, I grabbed the keys and my phone and locked up the house and went out looking. The Find Friends said she was close by so I just started walking down the road. 

She was over the first hill, squatted in the grass and crying. 

Well, shit.

"What's wrong, princess?" I squatted beside her.

She looked away.

"Please tell me."

"I don't know..." she rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand. "I'm a townie and I'm not ashamed of that, OK? I don't care what JJ says or what Linda or Julie think. I really don't. It's not my fault there's people who come to my town and go to stuck-up colleges and look at people like me like we're feral or something. And you know what, college doesn't make some people better than others. I don't even care what YOU say. I'm just as good as you."