Cartel│Mark Lee

I wish you were a stranger

Mark and I sat at the bar inside his house. He grabbed the bottle of whiskey from the cabinet and grabbed us two glasses. My hands ran through my hair and I huffed due to our long day. "It seems that every day just gets more and more stressful." He chuckled at my statement and handed me a drink. "I've come to assume you're not distracted by the glamor of this life anymore?" He sadly smiled at me and I followed suit. "Don't get me wrong I love all the clothes and luxuries." I threw my hands up in exaggeration and let them flop back down on the wooden counter. "But I am getting tired." Mark nodded at me in understandment and poured a little bit more whisky into my glass. "I know, that is why we are drinking." He was still upset with me and determined but I chose to ignore all his words of admirations. What he said in the car on the way home was enough to make my heart flutter but I was yet to believe his words, as he gave me no reason to. Taking advantage of the young and rich man in front of me was something I couldn't do. Unlike all the other girls that leeched off Mark, I actually knew him. I actually loved Mark and I couldn't fool him into loving me forever, when I knew he already didn't in the first place. 

"It's a little early for drinking isn't it?" I gave him a devilish smile. "Drinking takes all the pain away. It's never too early to temporarily heal." He rose his glass to me and I did the same. "Cheers then. To temporary healing." We clink our glasses and took a gulp of the burning liquid. "Look at that. Now were happy, bright and innocent." I lazily moved my body around, pretending I was in a state of cheerfulness. Mark laughed at my actions and shook his head. "Things do seem this way when you are around nessa." I gave Mark a smile and sighed. It did seem like my inner struggles slipped away one by one as I continued sipping my drink. Mark and I always drank whiskey together, it was our favourite, but this time it was different. We weren't drinking for a celebration or for a pastime, we were drinking in defeat. We were drinking because our endeavor was disappearing and our sadness was compelling our entire lives.

Mark stared at me like I was going to slip through his fingers at any second. His head rested on his hand as he looked at me. "What?" I finally said to him. He drunkenly smiled at me. "Nothing." He giggled. I rolled my eyes and couldn't help but blush at Mark's boyish behavior. Times like this reminded me of the beach house and I so desperately wanted to go back to that time. It was the last time I remembered being genuinely happy. "So Mark, now that were on speaking terms." I huffed. "What were you working on in your office for the past week that I couldn't know about?" I asked. "That is some top secret stuff there lady. I can't possible let you know." His smile saddened at the thought of his work and I pouted. "But Mark were partners I should have some say in this." I whined at my lack of information. "You have had plenty to say in this matter." Mark mumbled and I hit his shoulder. "What does that even mean?" Mark ignored my question and stood up.

"As weird as you might find this, I really like this song. It is old but it's a good one" Mark laughed and walked towards the radio in the corner of the room. 'Hey Lover' by the Daughters of Eve played over the radio and Mark turned it up. I smiled at him as he came toward me and reached out his hand. The song was staticy through the radio but it still played loud throughout the room. "Come on, dance with me nessa!" He drunkenly stumbled on his feet and I giggled. I shook my head side to side, saying no. "My sweet nessa, please dance with." Mark dragged out the word please and I couldn't resist the urge to grab his hand. He brought me to the open space in the room beside the lounge couches. We both jumped around crazily to the song. Mark spun me around in circles until I got dizzy. I crashed into his chest and we both laughed as we let go of all our feelings for the moment. We moved our bodies around with the rhythm and screamed the lyrics at the top of our lungs. "I didn't know we were this bad at dancing." I laughed hysterically as Mark lifted me up in a playful manner. "Just let go Vanessa." He smiled and continued to thrash his body around messily. "Close your eyes baby, just for this song." In my drunken state I followed his instructions and shut my eyes tight. My body released its tension and I lifted my arms up freely and moved my body from side to side.

When the song ended we smiled at each other while catching our breaths. "See, how do you feel?" His smile lit up the room when he looked at me and I fell into his trance. "Almost free." I whispered and his smile faded. I let out a breath. "I bet you like Abba too!" I laughed and his smile resurfaced. "Is it a crime to?" We both chuckled at our comments and sat back down in our seats. "Another drink for the beautiful lady." He raised his eyebrows at me and shook the bottle in his hand. "Yes please." I held my glass up to Mark and bowed my head to him. "You are like some kind of king Mark." I laughed and laid my head on the cold counter. "You sit anywhere like its your throne. You don't take shit from anyone. You basically own everything and potentially have the power to do whatever you want." I peered up at him in admiration. "Just how do you do it though?" He ignored my witty remark to which I laughed at.

Mark sighed happily and moved the hair out of my face so he could see my eyes clearly. "I wish you were a stranger." He mumbled and I looked up at him confused. "God I wish I could turn you back into a stranger." He focused on me and I frowned. "Why would you want to do that Mark?" My heart sunk at those words and I couldn't help but not understand him again. "Because if I was never in your life you wouldn't of had to change at all. You would be free and happy."  His words held a sense of melancholy as he stared deep into me. I couldn't find the voice in me to respond to him. I didn't know what my life would look like without Mark but I knew I would always know something was missing from me. "Drinking doesn't seem to be healing all the pain tonight." He mustered up a weak smile. "I'm going to my office." He mumbled and left me alone with my head still pressed against the wood counter. "But even you said it was just temporary healing." I whispered to myself and let my eyes flutter close as I wished for my cup to be full again.