Greyhound [Marcus Rashford]

15

"So are we going to keep on making small talk, or are you going to spill the beans on Rashbeans?" Jess asks me as we arrive at his flat. "You don't fly halfway around the world for just anyone."

"Marcus could never be just anyone to me, you know that Jess. I couldn't contain myself in Chicago anymore. Every street I passed, every park, every building, everything somehow reminded me of him. I know it's pathetic to follow him around, but I couldn't help it," I try to explain myself to him.

"Sounds like somebody is in L-O-..." he starts, but can't finish due to the pillow I swiftly chucked at his face. "Oh come on, Peyton, you can't deny what you feel."

"I'm not denying that I feel amazing around him, I just don't want to attach that word just yet. It seems a little too soon," I tell him. While in my head I know that I feel the L word with Marcus, my mouth can't bring myself to announce it. Just like the Libra I am, I can't ever make a final decision on how I feel or how to express how I feel. My indecisiveness ruins almost every aspect of normal life from what to order at Smoothie King to what I want to do with my life, it seems almost right that it also plays a part in my love life. Unfortunately, Marcus isn't as simple as a pineapple surf smoothie. He's so much more important than anything in my life at the moment, I just don't want to lose him.

"I get that, but maybe you should tell that to the real person you came here to see, but instead pathetically decided to hide from," he tells me. Even with serious advice, he can't actually be serious ever.

"I just don't know when," I say truthfully.

Almost as if God is listening down onto every trivial conversation I've ever had, there's a knock at Jesse's door. He scurries over, and looks through the peephole. I turns around and looks at me with one of the most devious faces I've ever seen. "Looks like now is a pretty solid time," he announces as he opens the door.

Before I can even process what is going on, a frantic Marcus runs in the room. As soon as he spots me, he runs over and tackles into the couch with the most intense hug I've ever experienced. That's really intense considering my roommate had to be pried off of me by her boyfriend in order to end our goodbye hug before summer break.

"How did you know I was here?" I ask laughing into his chest.

"I saw some United fans posting pictures of you and Jess at the airport, and I couldn't believe you were actually in Manchester. I figured you'd be here, so I went 130 kmh to get here as fast as I could," he breathes out heavily. "Although, I am a little offended you didn't tell me first. I would have picked you up!"

"We can call it even for when you left without waking me up," I bargain with him. "I called Jess because I was nervous you would think it was creepy that I just showed up, you still have a lot of explaining to do for when you left me in the middle of the night. Preferably over a cup of coffee. Preferably you paying. Preferably somewhere where Jesse isn't listening to our conversation from the next room over."

"I think that can be arranged," he laughs, as he helps me up by holding both of my hands. Instead of letting go when I'm up, he just pulls me in closer. "It's just so good to see you again," he mutters as he pulls me in for a kiss.

"No, no, no, not in my living room. Keep it PG guys. Where is your decency?" Jesse dramatizes.

"Don't worry, we were just on our way out," I smile up at Marcus. We get up to leave, but I run over to thank Jesse for taking me in this morning before skipping out of his horrendously messy apartment, hand-in-hand with Marcus.