As The World Turns

Chapter 3

''I'm sorry what?'' Marshall asked the answer what not what he had been expecting.

''That's Jodie Kingsly she works at this Diner I go to most mornings,'' Denaun shrugged like it wasn't much of a big deal.

''Oh great, lemme guess you been trying to get her to go out with you for months,'' Marshall ran his hands down his face in disbelief. He'd actually found someone he might get along with and it was like a dagger to his heart to know he was probably too late for him to act.

''What no. She's just my friend, wouldn't I have told you if I were trying to get a girl,'' Denaun proposed, raising his eyebrows at his friend.

''No,'' Marshall muttered as he spun the laptop back around so he was looking at Jodie once more, ''is she nice though, I mean like is she easy to talk to and shit?'' He then asked, realising that he had a head start on getting to know her because Denaun was already friends with her.

''Yeah, I mean she was shy, to begin with, but after a couple of visits we just clicked you know,'' he responded, leaning back in his chair, Marshall watched him carefully as he spoke, still describing what Jodie appeared to be like, ''she also don't take shit from anyone, there was this guy harassing her,  she then straight up basically ripped his head off. Guy looked like a puppy who'd been told off; you know what you look like when a girl turns you down,'' Denaun finished with a grin, a laugh escaping him at the look that appeared on his friend's face.

''Fuck you man,'' Marshall flipped him off at the same time before then asking another question, ''so she's cool, not some crazy psycho bitch with an even crazier ex?"

''I dunno about the ex-man, she never brought one up. It's not really what we talk about, but she ain't crazy I can tell you that.''

''So she works at this Diner, you go to?'' Marshall moved away from his chair and over to the corner of the room, where a few unopened bottles of water sat on a small table. He picked it up and took a swig from it, although he would have preferred Denaun had let him swallow it completely before he made his next comment.

''And her Dad's strip club.''

''Fuck,'' the water dribbled down his chin as the news hit him like a truck, ''her Dad's,'' he coughed out chocking on the remaining what slightly.

''Chill man she works at the bar she ain't a stripper,'' Denanun chucked as Marshall wiped the water off of his face with his sleeve.

''I didn't care about the stripper part it was the Dad part that got me. I mean if I owned a strip club I sure as hell wouldn't let any of my girl's strip,'' Marshall confessed sitting back down in his chair, the picture of Jodie still facing him, a part of him just couldn't bring himself to look away. If he had a crush on her picture, what was he going to be like when he actually met her.

''Well like I said she ain't a stripper so it ain't weird. Anyway, she keeps complaining about how he wants her to take it over,'' Denaun explained shrugging.

''She doesn't want it?''

''Nah she doesn't. Hey I got an idea, why don't we go over there she works in the VIP section, you could you know get a proper look at her rather than drool over her photo, drool over her in real life instead.''

''I'm this close to fucking beating yo ass right now,'' Marshall held two of his fingers up, a small gap between them, illustrating his point,'' plus a strip club really man?''

''We could take Ryan, his bro and Anthony,'' Denaun pointed out, ''come on say it's for Boogie or some shit, like a break from doing his album,'' he added as Marshall still looked at him unsure.