love bites » marcelee.

32: Time's Up

Chapter Thirty-Two: Time's Up

"Hey, babe?"

Marceline did not reply Marshall; she was too invested in the video game to even hear him. He called her once again, a little louder this time and she responded with a 'hmm?'.

"Can I ask ya somethin'?"

She didn't even bother to pause the game they were playing. Her eyes were fixated on the bright screen whilst her fingers continued twiddling and pressing about the controller, like the multitasker that she was. "What's up?"

"Let's pretend that, I don't know... Let's just say that I'm not really good-looking, and that I've done a lot of bad things in my life. Would you still be with me?" Marshall asked.

Marceline then paused the game to look at her boyfriend.

"I don't care. I'll still love you for who you are, you idiot." she made her point clear to Marshall.

He grinned. "Good to know."

1 week later...

"You wanted to watch it so badly, so don't come crying to me when you have nightmares." Marshall teased.

Marceline playfully punched his arm, hitting him harder than she had intended to. "Hey, it wasn't even that scary, okay? I just didn't expect it to be that gory." she laughed.

He shrugged, agreeing with her to a certain extent regarding the horror film that they'd watched after school today. "Meh, I've seen worse."

Marceline, who possessed an undying love for horror movies, had been bugging Marshall all week about wanting to catch that film. So they did. It was all blood, guts and gore, which he was all too familiar with seeing, but she enjoyed it nevertheless, and that was all that mattered. She was going to crash at his place for the night. To watch more horror movies, he supposed.

When he opened the front door, he had the sudden urge to turn away and bang it shut but it was already too late when he crossed over the threshold and into the house, for he was taken aback to see an uninvited guest in his home.

"Mom? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Mrs. Lee?" Marceline piped up from beside Marshall. She clearly did not expect her presence her at all, whereas for him, he had been dreading it all along, the prospect clawing at the back of his mind while throughout he secretly wished that this day would never come.

Helena's arms were folded and she had a scowl on her face, a haughty demeanor which her son had been accustomed to via her blatant displays of perpetual comtempt. "Time's up, Marshall."

Oh. This was not good.

"What's going on?" Marceline asked.

"Babe, could you wait outside the house for a moment?" Marshall spoke into her ear, unwittingly making it sound more like a plea than a request.

"No," Helena objected in a loud, dictatorial voice and he mentally cursed her for having bionic hearing. "Marceline should stay. All the better for her to find out. So, let her hear what you have to say."

"Mom..." he warned.

"What? I think that Marceline deserves to know the truth."

"What truth?" Marceline shook his arm lightly with a confused look plastered on her face.

Marshall clenched his teeth, his brain not allowing his vocal chords to articulate a single word. Helena gave him a menacing look that threatened him to make a choice between work and girlfriend, plunging him into an undesirable dilemma which he had no interest in choosing at all.

"Go on, Marshall," she persisted, almost as if she was trying to annoy him, like a child threatening to complain to her parents about her older sibling. "Tell her what you have to tell her. Or shall I do it myself?"

"No!" he defied, his voice loud and clear.

Marceline let go of his arm and Helena placed her hands on her hips, her patience diminishing by the second. She proceeded to carry on when he became quiet again.

"Marceline," she acknowledged the utterly baffled girl beside him. "I'm sorry to say this but...Marshall is actually not who you think he is."

Marshall laughed inwardly at his mother's word choice. Sorry. That's most likely the last thing she could ever feel, especially in a situation like this, where she was deemed on ruining his life.

Marceline furrowed her brows and narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

It was Marshall's turn to send Helena a death glare, warning her in a way, but it was also a look that screamed "don't!". She merely glanced at him before turning her attention back to Marceline. No. She wouldn't dare.

"Marshall is not-"

"Mom!" he bellowed when the tension between them had just about reached the breaking point for him. "If there's one person who's gonna tell Marceline the truth, that person's me, not you!"

Seething, Marshall grabbed his girlfriend's hand and led her out of the house, deliberately slamming the door shut behind them. He walked her briskly to his motorcycle. He couldn't stand being anywhere near his mother right now, especially since she's in his freaking house.

"Marshall, tell me what's going on." Marceline demanded, sadly deprived of the information that she so badly needed to know.

"Look, I can't tell you right now. Just..." he passed her a helmet. "Just hop on, alright?"

There's no avoiding it now.