cake「 mark 」

27

mark tossed and turned as he slowly came to. squinting dried and tired eyes, he looked in the direction he believed to be the window only to be greeted by pitch blackness. he sighed. his sleep had been off and on for a week now, and he was a bit unsettled to notice that it was only when she was absent. they had, after all, made sleeping in the same bed a regular thing for a while now now that they'd been seeing each other almost every day.

maybe it was stupid to try to get some sleep without her in the first place. mark wondered if she was still in the living room where he'd left her earlier that night once his yawning had gotten out of control. with a sigh, he threw the comforter off of his body and rose from the bed, warm feet hitting cold, wood floor.

he shuffled in the darkness until he found the switch on the bedside lamp. the room was filled with a dim, orange glow, and the first thing he laid his eyes on was the metal box from before at the beach. after a moment of consideration, he elected to open it. he flipped through a couple of photos in amazement before he found the one he noticed earlier. a picture of him.

it looked like it was from the first night he stayed at her place, as he was asleep surrounded by her unmistakable cacti sheets, only half of his face showing, his hair a chaotic mess of tangles and his upper half exposed. he was filled with a sense of pride to see that he was a moment worth documenting.

but then his eyes wandered a bit more to the next photo resting at the top of the stack. a woman who looked like sydney with two small girls on her lap. frowning in puzzlement, he turned it over in his fingers to discover a description on the back.

lilly and her girls,
kat (4) and rose (2).
christmas day, 2016.

sydney's breaths were slow and calm as the last movie luna forced them to watch, school of rock, came to an end, credits rolling in. she looked to her right to the sofa where her friend was sleeping, joined by jackson who let out soft snores with his head on her stomach, and smiled. grabbing her polaroid which was left on the coffee table, she quickly snapped a picture.

she had just began flicking the film back and forth to make it develop sooner when mark walked in the room, making her jump.

"you scare easy, huh?" mark mocked jokingly with his groggy voice. "you're so skittish, like a chihuahua or something."

"yeah, keep talking shit, and i'll maim your achilles' tendons."

mark laughed, because he expected no less from her. "how's the skin?"

sydney's expression was nothing but genuine surprise, because she'd actually forgotten about that. after the volleyball game, which she would've lost miserably if it hadn't been for mark carrying the team on his shoulders, she'd gotten a pretty bad sunburn, because she forgot to put on sunscreen like mark had reminded her to. she was as red as a lobster, actually.

when they all piled back up in jaebum's jeep, he'd scolded her for it and held the towel over her head the whole ride home even though the sun was barely even out anymore. it was stupid, but she smiled nonetheless at the memory. it touched her somehow.

she shook her head to focus as she notices mark's expectant look. "yeah, it's fine now," she smiled.

"it doesn't hurt anymore?"

"nope."

looking unconvinced, mark disappeared briefly into the bathroom and came back with the bottle of aloe vera he'd bought at the store earlier. sydney watched in silence as he came to sit next to her on the love seat. she moved to make room for him, taking her blanket with her.