Perfect Strangers |Complete|

Chapter Sixteen

Hello! It's that time again! So enjoy and comment your thoughts and vote if you enjoyed!

Marcus smiles as we walk out the door, our backpacks slung over our shoulders in the most of students preparing and their weekends together.
"Are we all chilling again?"
I grin. "When do we not?"
"That's true." He glances at Annie, who's gone quiet beside us. "You coming with us?"
She shakes her head. "My parents want me home this weekend."
"You're leaving me alone with this idiot?"
She cracks a smile as Marcus shoves me away from him. "I see how it is."
Annie nods. "Be a jerk to him for me."
I nod as Marcus sighs. "I'll take you home because I'm the nice one out of the three of us."
Annie glances at me and we burst out laughing. "Extremely nice."
Annie nods. "No one nicer."
He rolls his eyes. "Don't make me regret driving you two."
I smile as Annie snags a seat in the passenger seat. "Imagine going trick or treating."
Marcus laughs. "That's for losers."
I gasp. "Candy is never for losers."
Annie laughs. "You can buy a whole bag of candy anywhere else, but you prefer to dress up on the cold and beg for it?"
I sigh. "When you put it like that, it sounds stupid."
Marcus nods. "Why don't we all crash and watch scary movies at my place tomorrow?"
I nod. "I'm down."
She nods as we head towards her street. "Well you two have fun, okay?"
I nod. "See you tomorrow!"
Marcus turns to me. "I have a taste for fresh apples."
I grin. "I know just the place."

Half an hour later, we stop on the edge of town, the Harvest Orchard sign in front of us. 
Marcus and I hop out of the car, taking in the sight.
Apple trees go back as far as the eye can see, with apples lining the ground and hanging from the trees. People are scattered between the trees, laughter echoing everywhere.
I turn to Marcus. "Just what we needed."
He nods as we walk up to the supply table, each of us buying one bag to fill with apples.
I turn to him as we head towards the trees. "First one to fill their basket decides the first two movies tomorrow."
" You're on."
We race towards the trees, gently grabbing the apples off the trees or the ground smiles illuminating our faces.

Marcus stops next to me, glancing at me as he grabs an apple. "Have you done this before?"
I nod. "My mother and I used to go all the time. It was my favorite part of fall, not only because it's beautiful but it was carefree time with my mom."
"Oh. Why did you stop going?"
I shrug."I don't know. Maybe because she got more busy with work."
He nods. "Maybe this can become our thing."
I smile. "I'd like that."
We all fell silent and I turn to him. "Does your family have any fall traditions?"
"We used to go to a pumpkin patch not far from here, and spend the whole day picking pumpkins, wandering through the corn maze, checking out the animals, just being together." He sighs. "We just outgrew it I guess."
"I get that. Maybe you can bring it back as a tradition?"
"Maybe. You could too."
I nod as I grab the last apple I need to fill my basket. "I hope you like Hocus Pocus and the Nightmare before Christmas."
He glances at my full bag and sighs. "Those aren't scary though."
"You said the first two movies. Not the first two scary movies." He glares and I smirk." And, they're classics."
"Fine."
We wander around the last few rows of apples as Marcus fills his bag. Finally, he fills it and turns to me. "Now what?"
He glanced towards the entrance."You down for a tractor ride?"
"Yes." We quickly run over to the tractor, careful not to spill our apples in hopes of making the ride. We quickly hand the people at the stand our cash and hop on.
Marcus makes his way towards the back and I smile sitting next to him as the tractor starts to move. "It's so beautiful here."
He nods. "I wish I knew about this sooner."
"Well now we do."
He smiles. "What was your favorite Halloween costume?"
"Easy. Third grade when I was a scarecrow. The straw was a little bit itchy though."
He laughs. "I bet. Mine was when I was Buzz Lightyear. I might have broken my arm that year though..."
I laugh. "How'd you do that?"
"Maybe I tried to fly and found out it isn't possible."
I shuffle a laugh and he bites back a smile. "I was six, don't judge me."
"So I wasn't the only idiot as kid."
He pauses "Was?"
I glare at him and he smirks. "I'm not wrong."
"I'm going to ignore that."
He smiles.."Just like you ignore how charming I am."
I roll my eyes, my heart fluttering as he leans closer to me so he can hear me over the engine. "Keep telling yourself that. Maybe one day will come true."
"I bet that's what you told yourself when you wanted to not be an idiot."
I punch his shoulder, biting back a laugh. " You're a jerk."
"It's the truth..."
"That you're a jerk, I'm well aware. I need a nicer friend."
He gasps. "That was mean."
"Suck it up, or do you need your pacifier?" I open my purse. "I think your mom gave me one, let me find it..."
His eyes widen as he laughs. "There is no way you have one..."
I shrug. "Keep being a baby and you'll find out."
He glares and I grin just as we pull back into the
starting place of the ride.
The driver turns off the engine and Marcus and I wait for everyone else to get off as we hold our apple bags close.
Once the tractor bed empties, Marcus heads out and I follow.
"Where to now?"
He checks his phone. "It's only three o'clock. What do you want to do?"
I pause. "How about we head home? Maybe see if we can find a place to get some food?"
He nods, just the slightest trickle of disappointment flickering through his eyes. We head back to the parking lot, strolling over to his car.
I spot it and my heart drops. I drop my bag of apples as I take in the sight in front of me. Graffiti covers his car once again, this time blood red. Word after word covers the car and I look away. We can't even have one day without this....
Marcus stops next to me, glancing at me. "What's the matter?"
I bend down to quickly pick up the apples so he doesn't see the tears brewing in my eyes. "Nothing."
He stops, gently grabbing my wrist. "You know I can see tbroyvj that."
I look away and he glances towards the car. "The car can be cleaned, it's no big deal."
Marcus glances at our bodyguards following us from behind and they jump into action, scanning everyone around us.
He turns back to me as I sniffle and his eyes soften. He grabs my apples and quickly puts them into the car along with his and comes back to me. "Please don't cry."
I wipe my eyes. "You should clean that before it gets hard to come off."
He shakes his head as he helps me up, gently wiping my tears away. "I don't care about the car right now. What's the matter?"
I meet his eyes. " It's not even that they did it, or what it said... It's the fact we can't go one day without something happening." I pause, trying to catch my breath. " I just want it to stop. I'm so tired of it."
He smiles, wrapping me in a hug. "Just let it all out..." We stand in silence, the only sound being my sniffles.
After ten minutes or so, I smile, glancing at him.
He smiles back.  "I get it. I want nothing more than for this to be over and everything to be normal again. Trust me, no one can understand it better than I can."
I force a smile as he rubs my back. "But we'll be okay. Not right now, maybe not til we graduate, but as long as we have each other, we can get through anything."
I bite my lip, gratefulness flowing through me and I start to cry again.
He glances at me, confused. "What did I say? You weren't supposed to cry again."
I laugh. "I'm just really grateful."
He smiles. "I can take happy tears."
I nod. "Thanks for being here."
He grins. "Where else would I be?"
I bite back a sob."You're not helping me not cry."
He laughs and in that moment, I knew. I knew I could not be only friends with him.
He's not only the most supportive person I know, but the rest of his personality is just amazing. From how he can make me laugh when I need it, to just his ability to take everything in a relative good moment, he is just..just everything I want in a guy.
"What?" I glance at him confused,  and he smiles. "Do I have something on my face? You're staring...."
I blush. "No, you're okay."
He smiles and I take a deep breath. Am I really going to do this? I could lose him, or I could gain so much more....
"Marcus?"
He glances at me. "Yes? Do you need a tissue? I have some in the car...."
I shake my head, grabbing his hand. "No, it's not that."
He pauses, glancing at my hand on his. He glances at my eyes nervously and I smile. He takes a deep breath. "What then?"
"I don't..."
He meets my eyes again, his voice riddled with anxiety. "Don't what?"
I take a deep breath again. "I don't want to be just friends."
His eyes widen. "Really?"
I nod and he grins. "I don't either."
Now it's my turn to be shocked. "For real?"
He nods. "From the moment we met, I knew you would be important to me. I just never knew how important..."
I slip my hand into his. "I didn't either, and I don't want it any other way."

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