Girlfriend On Mars

9. "Thanks, and thanks again"

Nine.

"Thanks, and thanks again."

The weekend passed slowly as Marley found herself wanting to be at school instead of at home. She went for as many runs as possible and stopped by the green near her house to do kick ups and such with her soccer ball. She was out early before her parents woke so she wouldn't face confrontation downstairs or disturbing them when she got back.

She pottered on to her science class early on the Monday, being one of the first in the lab room. She knew Jen would be a little later, but she wanted to thank her properly, show her the gratitude that the blonde felt. It was a dull class, filled with dull people, background noise and boring mutters—a room filled with wallflowers. Things only ever felt interesting when Jen barged into the room, as late as she always was, with her well-chosen outfits and her laid back demeanour.

When she did that day, she actually smiled at Miss Lyons, clearly apologising before she jogged down to her seat beside Marley.

The two grinned at each other in silence, not talking as the teacher was, waiting for their chance to fall into conversation. Marley didn't feel as worried about acting "too friendly" as none of her friends were in her science class. She felt comfortable enough to talk to Jen without the stress of constantly looking over her shoulder.

"It was my first day on the job yesterday." Jen said quietly, eyes directed towards the front of the room still.

Marley knew Jen wouldn't be the type to go looking for her thanks—she was too down to earth for that. She figured she probably already forgot the incident and was back to her attempts at friendliness. Marley felt her admiration for the dark-haired girl growing uncontrollably; she really had come to respect her through everything she had heard regarding her. She tried to push the rumours and such to the back of her mind as she thought about her, it was only occasionally that they consumed her thoughts. But she'd found then that it didn't make her respect Jen any less than she'd found herself to—not after the unprecedented kindness she'd shown.

"How was it?" Marley asked, to which Jen paused, smiled and chuckled quietly in surprise. She'd realised then that something had changed over the weekend.

"Pretty chilled, there's another girl who works the evening shift with me too and she's... nice." Jen grinned, not stopping to let Marley ponder on the meaning of her words. "I mainly stack shelves and sometimes I get to work at the cash register. I like it, it's sweet."

"Sounds cool." Marley replied, and then continued, not wanting to deaden the conversation. "I need a job really too."

Jen smirked, turning her head away from the front. "Come work with me, Rhodes."

It was a cocky smirk, but one you couldn't refuse. The expressions that crossed Jen's face were undeniably attractive, always, and Marley was envious of the older girl's power in that sense. They were always indifferent. There was never sadness, or alertness, or much anger—just aloof, cocky, lazy and somehow seductive. Marley wondered how girls and guys alike weren't going insane for her; Jen was undoubtedly one of the most attractive people in the year—someone who always managed effortless beauty.

The more Marley thought about it, the more she realised she hadn't asked Jen if she had a boyfriend or anything. She didn't have much of an inkling at all. Jen could have been seeing someone outside of school, in her previous year for all the blonde knew. She wanted to ask but she felt it might be too friendly just yet—or suggestive.

"I don't know if I could." Marley replied quietly.  "Maybe I'll try a bit later in the year. Besides, I wouldn't want to bother you at work."

Jen laughed, still smirking at the oblivious blonde. "You wouldn't be bothering me at all. I don't think you can."