[A/N: This song applies to just the first section.]
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As Mark took a millennial couple’s orders, he saw in the corner of his eye Colette walking through the Cucina Mia entrance. Keeping a straight face, he took the couple’s menus and made a beeline to the kitchen, making sure to pretend he didn’t see Colette.
He put the written orders in the ticket holder, and after he left the menus on a stack near the kitchen door, he found in his peripheral vision Colette headed toward him. He held a breath and finally turned to her.
Her brown eyes covered in heavy eyeshadow looked sad, and her red lips puckered into a pout. Her expression made him want to look up at the ceiling in annoyance.
“Hey,” she began, “I wanna talk about what happened at Mila’s party.”
“Sure.” Gulping, he shifted his weight on his right foot.
“I don’t remember a lot, but I do remember jumping you and I’m hella sorry.” She looked down at the floor, which only made Mark feel less convinced. He was well aware that drunk people were some of the most honest people in the world, so her apology was not as real as the way she’d pinned him against Mila’s front door.
He had to be frank with her. “Are you really sorry?”
Her black eyebrows, probably made darker than normal with a touch of makeup, furrowed as she planted a fist on her hip. “Yeah, I am.”
“I’ve been around drunk people and they don’t hold back. Deep down, I know you’re not sorry.”
She scoffed and took a step back with her hands raised. “Fine, you caught me. I don’t feel sorry. And you know why? Because I like you. At least my drunk ass had the guts to do something.”
He shook his head. “I thought you liked Andrew.”
“I don’t,” she said quickly. “Wait. Yeah, I do. Kind of.”
“But… We just met.”
“I know.” She sighed and leaned her hip against a counter, her eyes staying away from him. “You’re just...sweet. And funny.” She lifted a shoulder. “I can’t control who I crush on.”
Mark could more than relate to that, reminiscing all of his miserable breakups after he learned that his exes were more cold-hearted and conceited than they let on. Even some of them confessed they were just in love with him loving them. Hearing a girl say she never truly felt the same way felt like seeing her crush his bleeding heart in her hands.
Glancing at Colette watching him, he felt he had to be the one to say sorry. Having a crush on someone that wouldn’t requite it was the greatest pain in the ass, and he was in the same boat now with Paige.
“Colette,” he said, “you’ve been a really great friend and coworker. I’m sorry, but...that’s all that you are to me.” It hurt to hear himself say the words, but they had to be said.
She touched her forehead, then tore her hand away as if her face were on fire. “Um.” She looked around the kitchen and turned to him abruptly. “Right. Okay. I’m gonna go check in.”
He watched as she sped toward the back of the kitchen, in the midst of the smell of garlic and the smoke of the grills.
All Mark could think about was exactly how he felt when Paige Connelly turned him down in the middle of a school hallway.
[A/N: This is Vanessa Hudgens playing Betty Rizzo in Grease: Live! :D This song isn't relevant to the next section as a whole except the part when it's mentioned. I guess all of the Grease songs I post won't be thematically relevant to sections/chapters? Lol]
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The speakers in the school gym switched to an old Chris Brown song, but then the blonde volleyball coach cut off the song and turned on the microphone. “Okay folks, we’re about to start Murdy’s first home playoff match of the year!” The small crowds of teens and families on the bleachers cheered as both girls teams jogged to the court.
The girls positioned themselves all over the court that was split in half by a giant black net. Mark sat in the back of the bleachers on the Murdy team’s side, where Sadie stood close to the net. She turned and waved at him, and he waved back. He couldn’t hear what she yelled at him, so he made a show of shrugging at her.
So far he hadn’t seen Paige, but ever since he arrived ten minutes earlier, he was extremely jittery. His eyes kept turning to the gym entrances, only to not find the familiar flash of red hair or the amazing makeup that accentuated smiling lips and blue-green eyes. And whenever those ocean eyes met his plain mud ones, his insides would melt and his brain would turn into scrambled eggs.
He thought back to when Colette said she didn’t choose who she crushed on. Of course he didn’t choose either, even when he hadn’t known them that long. With Paige, it started out with a small crush from the way she teased and flirted with him that first night. Having compared that night to the awful mess he was now--his thoughts constantly returning to her and his heart racing at the thought of seeing her again--Mark knew this was no ordinary crush.
He had to blame that on their interesting situation. With his sister having ancient beef with Paige, the idea of him and Paige together was out of bounds yet made her seem more appealing. That was the main reason for this weird-ass crush, though he had to spend every single day convincing himself that.
Plus, he didn’t want to add more to the mess. Paige had thought so too, and she made it clear at the country club that she was no longer interested. All she saw of him was her enemy’s brother.
Maybe if Christy hadn’t been there that night, he and Paige would’ve had at least a bit more time to see what could’ve been.
As that thought drew a long sigh from him, his eyes caught the flame of hair at one of the entrances. His body freezing, he watched her making her way toward where he was on the bleachers. He wondered if her floral dress was new as she greeted some people, at one point having a small conversation with one of Sadie’s friends sitting close to the court. Maybe if he hid behind some people, she wouldn’t see him and he would avoid worsening their existing awkwardness.
Just as he scooted toward an empty spot behind a family of four, the pair of blue-green eyes found him through the crowd. For a second, he lost himself in the depths of those eyes, though he knew she was likely seeing right through him, including his melted insides and scrambled-egg-brain. Yes, I’ve fallen for you and I can’t get up.
It was too fucking bad he didn’t have his own Life Alert alarm as she headed up the stairs and walked down his row.
“Hey,” she said with a casual smile.
As she sat down next to him, he returned the smile, but his smile might’ve looked extra. He couldn’t check himself when the makeup thickening her lips and enlarging her eyes and keeping her skin vibrant made him hold his breath. He thought Colette’s makeup was decent, but Paige’s was quite amazing. He wouldn’t be surprised if she said she was aspiring to be a makeup artist.
“...Mark?” Paige said as she waved a hand in front of him.
He blinked. “What?”
“I said did I miss anything important?”
“Oh. Um, I think it’s just the game starting.” He briefly remembered getting there alone, feeling awkward among the groups of friends and families, wishing Sadie good luck, and waiting for the game to start. “Yeah, that’s it.”
“Are you literally bored enough to not pay attention?” she asked with a smile.
He wanted to say that he wasn’t anymore now that she was there, and that he was glad she sat with him when she could’ve been with plenty of people she knew for years. But all he said was, “Yeah, I’m kinda bored. I’ve never been to a volleyball match before.”
She turned to the court. “Volleyball’s actually fun to watch. When I’m watching sports I feel like I’d know how to play if I tried. It’s like watching cooking competitions. I act like I know shit and yell at the TV when I know I can’t even make a decent-looking cheesecake.” She rolled her eyes.
Mark smiled. “I wonder what’s the story behind that.”
“Oh, no. All you have to know is that I made a huge mess in the oven. I’m sticking to cookies and cupcakes from now on.”
“Can I try your cooking sometime?”
“If you wanna throw up a lot, then yeah, I’ll save you a couple of cupcakes.”
He cracked up, but then her remark reminded him of the food poisoning fiasco. The guilt came flooding back. “Sorry I screwed up that plan with the hot dogs. I didn’t wanna get other people sick.”
She looked down. “It’s okay. Looking back now I feel like that was such a stupid idea. I was just really pissed at Christy and Carter. Coming home to my mom having a cow was pretty bad.” She glanced up at Mark. “And I don’t even do drugs. I tried weed only one time and I hated it.”
“Yeah, it’s weird when you first try it.” Following his first joint with dozens more turned out to be more appealing that he’d expected. But he didn’t want another visit to the past. To change the subject he said, “But your mom believed you, right?”
“Yeah. She said it didn’t sound like me.” Paige slightly turned away from him. “And one of my exes getting back at me was nothing new.”
He nodded with a touch of sadness in his heart. “I heard you and Carter dated once.”
“That was probably the biggest mistake I’ve ever made in my life,” she said, still looking away from him. His shoulders slumped. He needed to cheer her up somehow.
A loud whistle from the other school’s coach caught him off guard. He looked up at the scoreboard and saw that his school’s team was winning. It was probably bad of him to not pay attention to his cousin’s game, but she did nag him to go, and it was a chance to see Paige.
But now that he thought about it, his head was still in the clouds. He needed a slap across the face to remember he and Paige could never be something more.
He probably needed a harder slap when she pulled her phone out of her tiny purse and opened the reverse camera, checking her lips covered in a pink lipstick. In that moment, he wanted to do nothing more than kiss those lips and feel his own lips getting smeared in that lipstick.
As she put her phone away and watched the match, he snapped his attention back to the match too but still couldn’t pay attention. It was laughable how hard he’d fallen.
I need to invest in my own Life Alert alarm ASAP.
If he had one, he’d at least see her makeup in a completely objective way. Sneaking another glance at her, through his attempt at an objective lens, he was still astounded by the art on her face. He was no makeup expert, but her eyes and lips looked like they came right out of a makeup ad. Gulping, he said, “You’re really good with makeup.”
She turned to him and looked at him strangely. Did he have something on his face? But then she said, “I’ve had very few guys say stuff like that to me.”
“Oh.” He turned toward her more and set his elbows on his knees. “Well, it’s true. How long have you done makeup?”
“I don’t even know. I’ve done it for as long as I can remember. I even made makeup tutorials when I learned how to use YouTube.”
He widened his eyes. “So you’re a YouTuber?”
“I was, in middle school. I rewatch those videos sometimes and cringe so hard. But I was pretty cute.”
She smirked, and he chuckled as he imagined a younger version of her. She did in fact look ten times cuter. “Do you still have them up?” he asked.
“Yep, I guess ‘cause of the nostalgia. I mean, they were totally cringey, but they were still fun to make. And then I went through a break that turned out to be permanent. I guess I could still try to do it again…”
He half-shrugged. “Why don’t you? I bet you know a lot more about makeup now, and you don’t seem that shy.” He could totally see her winning over thousands of people with her humor and personality, and he was still trying to see this objectively.
“True, true.” She twirled a lock of red hair with her index finger. “I’ve practiced a lot with plays and musicals. Mr. Helmick basically made me the head of the makeup department.”
Mark gaped. “Plays? Damn, that’s awesome.”
She rolled her eyes. “Calm your man tits, it’s not Broadway.”
He laughed. “I can’t calm my man tits when I just found out you’re the makeup artist in the school plays. Are you gonna do Grease too?”
“Yep, same drill. It takes up so much of my time, but at least I can still fit it all in.”
Mark couldn’t stop grinning as he replied, “That’s what she said.”
Staring at him with wide eyes, Paige burst out laughing. He laughed with her too, but when the family in front of them shot dirty looks over their shoulders, Mark covered his mouth and quieted down his laughter.
“Well well well,” Paige teased. “I thought you were just punny.”
“I do have a dirty mind. Just don’t blow my cover, okay?” He winked.
She giggled a bit more, then another whistle pierced the air. They both turned their attentions back to the volleyball match. After what felt like half an hour, Murdy won by a landslide. Paige leaped up and cheered, with Mark standing up and cheering too.
They waited for the people in front of them to head down the bleachers toward the team players. After Mark and Paige reached the court, she hugged and congratulate some of the girls in the home team. She finally got to Sadie whose smile was the widest Mark had ever seen her make.
She pulled them both into a giant hug. “Oh my God, I can’t believe this!”
After Sadie let go of them, Paige said, “I can. You and the girls fucking slayed!”
Sadie let out a laugh at the same time one of her teammates appeared next to her and yelled, “Hell to the yeah!”
“We’re all gonna go to the beach to celebrate,” Sadie said as she walked away with her arm around her teammate’s shoulders.
As Sadie waved Paige and Mark goodbye, Paige said, “That means the whole team goes out to celebrate.”
She and Mark managed to free themselves from the huge crowd of people in the court and headed toward the parking lot.
“Where are you going?” Paige asked.
“Home.”
“Wow, that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you say somewhere other than work.”
Mark grinned. He was just thinking that too.
“I gotta pick up some of my art projects. Wanna come?”
“That’s what she-- I’m kidding. Yes, I’d love to.”
She giggled, and he wanted to hear that sound every day. “I just walked into that one, huh?”
He shrugged. “And I couldn’t help it.”
They walked around the gym and made it to the main cluster of buildings. After they entered the building where the art classrooms were, Mark said, “I didn’t know you were taking Art.”
“Yeah, Visual Arts. I’ve taken a lot art classes actually. I’ve entered a few art competitions too.”
“So, makeup artist and artist?” He wondered what this girl couldn’t do.
When she opened her mouth to reply, a male voice behind them yelled, “Hey, Paige!”
She came to an abrupt stop and slowly turned to a dark-haired guy that Mark didn’t recognize. He was probably a senior.
“What the hell do you want, Jack?” Paige said, her voice tinged with annoyance.
“I was talking to Carter after Mila’s party, and he said you gave him an STD in middle school. Why didn’t you tell me before we did it?”
She walked up to him and squinted her eyes. “Yeah, I got an STD, but not from him. It was after you. Now chill your balls, okay?”
He squinted back at her and smirked. “Is that why you’re not dating anymore? ‘Cause of what you have?”
“I stopped ‘cause you and Ethan had the tiniest Tic Tacs down there.” She glanced down at his jeans then back up at his nervous expression. “I stopped ‘cause all of the dicks in this school are so disappointing.”
He folded his arms and looked between her and Mark. “Oh really? Are you dating him then?”
Mark widened his eyes as he looked at Paige glaring at Jack. Mark said, “No, we’re not--”
“You know what?” Paige cut in. “I’m so fucking close to telling Sophie that I gave you an STD, which, by the way, I didn’t. But do you want her to think I did when you already asked her to Homecoming?”
“Uh…” Jack backed away and scoffed. “I was joking, okay? Geez.” Then he turned and stomped down the hallway.
Paige cracked her neck. “He’s here for his girlfriend Sophie, who’s in the volleyball team, so maybe that’s why he was following us like a creepy stalker.”
Mark was simply speechless as she continued leading him down the hallway toward the art classrooms. He already knew about Paige’s reputation of having a very active dating life--and even used that as another reason why he needed to end his crush--but she seemed to be used to her exes giving her so much shit. He had a million questions, but where could he even begin? “Um…”
“If you’re gonna ask what I think you’re gonna ask, Jack and Ethan are the last two guys I dated, not counting my last date with that scumbag Andrew. And no, I don’t have an STD.”
He closed his mouth shut, still processing what she just told him. “You...you don’t?”
“Just some more bullshit coming from Carter’s mouth. But I guess that’s what I get for what happened at Mila’s party.” She shrugged, but Mark felt this was something that couldn’t be shrugged off easily.
“Paige, can I be honest?” he asked quietly.
She looked at him. “Sure?”
He let the words come to him without a filter. “I don’t think you’re what they say you are. They can all go to Hell.”
She stopped walking and just stared at him. He didn’t break eye contact in embarrassment this time, because she needed to know he meant what he said. She sighed and looked down as she shook her head. Then she finally looked back up at him. “I don’t know how you do it.”
Gulping, he said, “Do what?”
“Like, saying sweet things like that all the time. And just being nice in general. Remind me to go to you whenever I’m feeling down.” She clicked her tongue and pat him on the shoulder.
Why did she change the subject? He opened his mouth to say that he truly meant what he’d said about her, but no words came out.
She continued walking down the hallway, and he followed suit in silence. Stopping at one door, she turned the handle and pulled, but the door was locked. “Crap,” she said. “Guess I’ll come back tomorrow.”
At this time he sensed she didn’t want to talk about what he still wanted to talk about, so he let it go. As they exited the building and made their way to the direction of the parking lot, Mark tried to figure out how to break the long silence.
Then all of a sudden she started humming. He watched her as he tried to recognize the tune. Giving up, he asked, “What song is that?”
She gaped. “You don’t know? It’s from Grease! I have the entire movie memorized.”
“I forgot all the songs,” he admitted sheepishly.
“It’s ‘Look At Me, I’m Sandra Dee’!”
“Oh! How does that song go again?”
She cleared her throat and then sang with sass,
“Look at me, I’m Sandra Dee
Lousy with virginity
Won’t go to bed till I’m legally wed
I can’t, I’m Sandra Dee.”
She sounded almost exactly like the actress that sang the song. Mark touched her arm to make her stop walking. “You’re actually really good.”
She rolled her eyes. “Good as in shower-singing-good?”
“I’m serious. You should audition for Grease.”
She looked at him as if he were joking. Was she never going to believe a thing he said about her? But then she folded her arms and glanced down at the cement. “Well, I’m just not the type to act. Or sing. Or dance.”
“But you should still audition. They might think you’re good.”
She slowly started walking toward the parking lot. “I don’t know…”
“Tell you what. If you audition, I’ll...get you free food, from Cucina Mia.”
She cracked up. “Stealing food for me again?”
At this point he would do almost anything for her. “Yep.”
After studying him with eyes that reminded him of mermaids, she said, “Okay, I’ll do it.”
He raised a fist in the air. “Yes!” They came to a stop at his rental car in the center of the parking lot. “And what would you like for me to steal?” he asked.
“Surprise me.” She winked.
He melted inside a little as he watched her head toward a few bike racks near the gym. He didn’t know what food he wanted to surprise her with, but he did know he sounded crazy risking his job for her. Well, there were dozens of restaurants around with help wanted, so his job would be an easy replacement.
But Paige was not.
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