As The World Turns

Chapter 40

''Why do you keep not answering the phone?'' Marshall asked as he watched Jodie let her phone ring until the call ended. It was the third time she'd done it that day and now it was really beginning to bother him; especially since it had rung twice while they were eating.

Jodie'd wanted Pizza and to watch some movie, that he wasn't paying attention too and no idea what it was called. However, something he had been paying attention to, was trying to work out what who was calling Jodie. Every time it had rung he'd conspicuously been trying to crane his neck in order to figure out who it was, but Jodie had no name to the caller even though it was the same number each time.

''Next time it rings I'm answering it, it's annoying the fuck out of me,'' Jodie's eyes widened slightly, just enough for him to notice that something was going on. Her hand hovering over her phone also told him she was hiding something, ''unless you tell me who it is that's constantly calling you?'' He raised his eyebrow at her.

Jodie went silent and placed the slice of Pizza she had been holding back down in the box. Wiping the flour form her hands on her jeans, she finally turned to face him and open her mouth.

''Fine, if you must know I'll tell you. But promise you won't get all mad at me or them ok. It happened a long time ago and was a memory I'd forgotten about until literally the other night,'' Jodie took a deep breath. Raising, her confidence she had finally figured out how to explain it to him, unfortunately, her phone rang again and true to his word Marshall answered it. Jodie's confidence melted away and her heart begun to beat faster because she had a fair idea at how the conversation would go.

''Nah I think I might say the same thing in a minute,'' Marshall spoke on the phone and Jodie was left helpless as she watched him leave the room a very stern expression pulled across his features. He left her in the living room alone, the only sound coming from the end credits of the film that neither of them had really been watching.

Marshall was beyond seething when it was Joe's voice that he heard the moment he'd answered the phone. Although, he was kinds proud that the last thing Jodie had said to him was that he could go to hell. Marshall couldn't agree more with that statement and he made it known to Joe too.

''Now you wanna tell me why you've been blowing up my girl's phone all day cause the number of times it's rung and she's let it rung have been starting to get on my nerves,''  he heard Joe breath a deep sigh at the other end of the of the line.

''Look, I just wanna talk to Jo about something ok. I wanna know if she's ok, she told me about some medical issue and I just wanted to know she was fine,'' unfortunately, Marshall knew Joe very well and could tell there was more to it than that.

''She's fine, she's got to have an operation to remove something, now are we done.''

''I wanna hear it from her Marshall,'' Joe was beginning to lose his patience was Marshall and Marshall was loving it, since all the times he'd lost his patience to Joe. Karma was so sweet.

''She doesn't want to speak to you, surely you got the hint when she kept declining your calls.''

''Just let me talk to her, cause I'm not saying it in front of you cause you won't like it,'' Joe's patience had worn thin and he'd decided he'd do anything to piss Marshall off as much as he could.

''Try me,'' Marshall, on the other hand, was doing the same and admittedly liked pissing Joe off.

''Fine, Jodie's got a diary and wrote details of the night we spent together and I wanted to ask her how she felt about it cause I returned the diary to her the other day. Nice talking to ya,'' Marshall slowly pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it blankly. Did he really just hear what he thought he had? Questions began to bubble up in his head once he'd figured out what information Joe had actually given him.

Still, a little confused, Marshall made his way back to the living room. He found Jodie sat curled up on his couch, her head buried in a fluffy pillow as she played with her fingers. Sighing, Marshall slowly sat next to her, running his hand through her hair; the feeling of it sliding through his fingers help him calm down a little so that he could recollect his thoughts.

''You said you hadn't slept with him?'' Marshall whispered slowly to her. He'd be angry if it wasn't for the fact that he knew she had no interest in Joe was to ever. Also, he felt if he spoke calmly he was more likely to get an answer from her because if he started cussing her out he knew all he'd get was tears and he wasn't that type of person. Well not with Jodie anyway, he loved her too much to lose her after something that had happened way before they knew each other.

''I just kinda forgot I did. You know it wasn't anything memorable and he left the next day. Didn't even bother fucking calling me or leaving a note, he didn't even mention it either,'' Jodie's voice cracked as she was overcome with emotion. Saying the words out loud suddenly made her feel as if she'd been some sort of slut, ''it's like he just used me and I...''

''Hey it's ok, you don't have to explain it to me,'' Marshall pulled her head up and moved her so that she lay on his chest, ''I'm not angry with you about something that happened a good few years ago. I may be an asshole most of the time, but I have my non-asshole moments,'' a small smile fell across his features as he heard Jodie giggle a little.

''What did I do to deserve you,'' she whispered.

''I was about to say the same about you,'' Marshall responded, leaving a kiss to linger in her hair.