don't you walk away

-6-

After finishing our dinner, Mark took me to the nearby park and we walked around for a bit, enjoying the nice weather. We took a seat on a bench in front of the pond in the park and watched the ducks swim around, trying to find their nests for the night. Mark's hand found mine on the bench and I smiled, thankful for the cover of the night.

After about twenty minutes of us talking about anything and everything, I was feeling a little tired even though it was only about eight. Mark dropped me off at my apartment and walked me inside, to my door.
"Tonight was nice." I smiled as Mark said this.
"It really was." Mark looked down at his hands. "You know," I began. "I was kind of wanting to have a New Year's party and I wondered if you wanted to invite the guys and their significant others." Mark smiled brightly. "So, that's a yes?"
"That sounds like fun! Just the group of us?" I nodded.
"Yep."
"I look forward to it!" At this point, I was afraid my eyes would disappear from my face from how hard I was smiling. Mark and I both looked around awkwardly as if we were middle schoolers finishing our first date. He leaned in and pecked me on the cheek. "See you in a few days." I nodded because I was barely capable of speaking in this instance. Mark flashed his signature smile one more time before he turned and walked away from my doorway. I shut the door and wandered into my living room, unable to wipe the grin from my face. I plonked down on my couch and pulled my phone from my back pocket, still grinning like a madman.

luke you won't believe what just happened >

/december 31, 12pm/

I stood in front of my dresser for the third time in the past few weeks. Mark was really taking a toll on my carefree style. I decided to say fuck it and pulled a Grouplove shirt from the top drawer and a pair of black jeans from the bottom drawer. I gathered my undergarments from their respective drawers and took the pile of clothes into the bathroom. I checked my phone. It was about seventy outside, so there was no need for a jacket. I plugged my phone into the speaker and pressed shuffle.

About twenty minutes later, I was sufficiently clean and dry so I began to put on my makeup. I decided to go with a wing on the eyes since tonight was a fairly special occasion. I set aside the lipstick for later and ventured out into the world to buy some supplies for tonight. I walked down to the convenience store on the corner of the street and bought some chips, dip, and sodas. I grabbed a 100 Grand bar for myself and then ventured a couple blocks down to the liquor store. I didn't really have a habit of visiting here since I mostly bought my wine from Ralph's, but I didn't really feel like getting in my car and driving today. I picked up a couple bottles of champagne and a bottle of peach Arbor Mist. I put the bottles in the basket along with the bags from the convenience store and pulled my phone from my pocket.

mark what kind of beer would you want >

< Hm, I'm not sure. Surprise me

I shrugged and slipped my phone back into my pocket. I grabbed two cases of Heineken, which had been the beer that my dad drank, because it seemed like it was the best. I couldn't remember what Mark had had at his party last night that was so good but I figured this would do just fine in serving its purpose. I set the basket on the counter and the cashier rang me up.
"Having a party tonight, miss?" I chuckled as I pulled my wallet from my pocket.
"Yessir." The old man squinted at me.
"Sorry little lady but I'll need to see your ID." I shrugged.
"I got the feeling you'd say that." The guy chuckled.
"Just a precaution." I waved him off.
"No worries, it's nice to know that I don't look halfway to thirty."
"I understand. Now you have fun tonight!" I smiled at the kind man.
"Thank you, sir! Happy New Year's Eve!"
"You too, little lady." I grabbed my bags and carried all of my party supplies the few blocks back to my apartment. Once there, I put the drinks and the dip in the fridge to chill and started tidying up my apartment for tonight. I swept a bit and tidied the cushions on the couch. It was only about three when I finished sprucing up the apartment so I retreated into my bedroom to waste the rest of the time away by watching YouTube videos. One of my favorite people was playing Papers, Please and I couldn't wait for the next episode.

I'd finished a couple episodes of Papers, Please and had moved on to watching some indie game when I heard a knock on my door, which meant the first guest was here. I quickly applied the lipstick I'd set aside and opened the front door to be met by Mark.
"Congratulations! You're the first one here!" Mark chuckled and I welcomed him inside. He'd brought some chips just as I had last time and I set them on the counter alongside the chips that I'd bought. I saw him drift over to the desk that I had in my living room that had some of my artwork on it. Shit, I'd forgotten to clean that up.
"Tal, did you do all this?" He turned to face me with a self portrait of myself that I'd done a few weeks ago in his hands.
"I- uh- yeah. Sorry, I meant to clean all that up." He looked back down at the desk.
"Don't apologize, these are amazing!" I blushed.
"Oh, Mark, don't be silly, those are just practice doodles and stuff." He scoffed.
"These? Just practice doodles?" I walked closer to him and began stacking the drawings into a neat pile and put them in the drawers of the desk.
"I-" A knock at the door cut me off. Mark raised his eyebrow at me as if to say "we'll talk about this later" and I shrugged innocently as I opened the door to see Cubbie and his wife there.