Hi again everyone. I apologise for my last submission, it was late when I finished writing it and apparently didn't proof read very well. There were a lot of autocorrections due to writing it on my phone.
So here is the resubmission. I hope you can still enjoy it!
Jenny's brown hair blew in the wind as they approached the car. Mark was dumbfounded at the fact that he never truly noticed any attraction towards her until now. Of course, he knew she was beautiful but never felt like this about her. She was five feet away from him, on the other side of his car and he could feel that he missed her, just because they weren't holding each other.
He took his time to soak it all in. Her long brown hair, blowing in the breeze, her brown eyes that were so large and deep he could just drown in them. Her cute button nose and soft lips, just looking at them gave him flashbacks of the night before, their first kiss in his bathroom.
Jenny wasn't his usual type, she was a lot skinnier than the girls he had dated previously but still had enough curves where it mattered. Solid B cups but still had an ass that showed she had junk in her trunk.
Her looks didn't matter anyway, the admiration on her face when she looked at him was all he needed to know he loved her.
The admiration in her eyes wasn't unjust either. She loved the way he looked at her, too. He had put on a little weight over the pandemic and whilst "that bitch" had her claws dug into him, it wasn't anything she couldn't help him with though. He had broad shoulders too and she had always admired that. Mark had short, brown hair that he kept style with some product. His five o'clock shadow framed his face nicely and he had this habit of clenching his jaw now and then which really brought the shape together. Jenny knew the clenching wasn't great for his teeth but it really did make her weak at the knees.
They stood there for a moment, just taking in the view until Jenny broke the silence.
"Are you checking me out?"
Mark smirked and let out a chuckle. "Just admiring the view."
"That's great and all, but we have to get my stuff." She softly reminded him, "Do you want to unlock the car maybe?"
Mark shook himself free from the trance his view had him in. "Maybe I don't." As he quickly unlocked the car, and locked it again. Jenny tried to open the door but didn't before Mark managed to lock it again and he couldn't help but laugh.
"You know, some of your jokes are really shit." Her tone was matter of fact and he looked up waiting to see her scowl, which she held for a second and then burst out laughing herself.
"Sometimes your jokes are just as bad." Mark responded, whilst unlocking the car and climbing in.
The drive to Jenny and Chris' place was easily thirty minutes and in that time, Mark and Jenny spent the drive continuing the catch up they had started the night before. Some laughs and some tears, and, before they knew it, they had arrived.
They both felt their nerves building as they headed towards the door, Mark took the lead in an instinctive play to protect Jenny, in the event that Chris was actually home. His car was there, but he always left it at home when he planned to spend the night partying. Mark found it funny that he was that careful about protecting himself but that didn't seem to apply to anyone else.
As it happened, Chris wasn't home. The pair took a deep breath each as a sigh of relief.
"I just want my clothes and a couple of other things, everything else can be replaced." Jenny walked in like a woman on a mission.
"Well since you haven't specified the other things, I guess I'll grab your clothes."
"Oh look! He is a smart one!" She jested.
"Keep that up and you'll be doing this yourself, maybe you'd even get to see Chris one more time before you leave." Mark jabbed back.
"Alright, alright. You're right, I'm sorry." Jenny was on the other side of the lounge by now but blew him a kiss.
Mark caught himself smiling. He couldn't even feign being mad at her. What had she done to him? He was drunk on her, but he wasn't complaining.
The whole process of collecting the "must-haves" and "nice to haves" took some time, they arrived at 2PM and the next time they looked at the clock it was 4PM. Chris still wasn't home.
Mark had taken a little break, grabbing a soda while he looked for Jenny in the other rooms. "So, is this a typical day when Chris is out the night before." He raised his voice a little so she could hear him.
"Every weekend" he heard her shout back, closer than he realised, she was just in the next room, collecting her hair dryer, straighteners and curlers.
"No way, this late?! How can he keep up that energy?" Jenny got a shock when she realised Mark was closer than she had anticipated when he walked into the room.
"Sometimes more than one day." There was a sadness to her tone. Jenny hadn't taken into account how hard this was going to hit her when she decided it was best to collect her stuff. She felt herself sobbing a little, but then a gentle touch landed on her left shoulder.
Mark's hand was warm, and soft. She rested her head against his forearm and placed her left hand on top of his right one.
"It's over, I know you're sad now but you'll be ok. I'll be here as long as you need me." He mimicked her words from the night before, verbatim.
Jenny found herself smiling at his memory, despite the stress of the situation, he was able to relay her advice back to her, word for word. "What? Can't you come up with your own comforting words?" She said it without thinking, so before Mark could respond, she stood up and kissed him.
It was a long kiss, different to the night before, but in a good way. When they first kiss, it was a kiss of passion, a kiss that said "I need you" to the other. This was one of romance, a soft, delicate kiss of love and tenderness. Jenny felt her heart warm at the difference and noticed Mark's cheeks go flush.
She looked him dead in the eye. "I think I'm done. Take me home?"
Mark smiled and pulled her close, kissing her again. "Sure, I'll get the car started."
He walked out and Jenny was just placing the last few items in a bag when she heard her front door shut. Mark got there quicker than she usually did from this room. Then she heard it.
"Oh, hey Chris." Mark said it loud enough for her to hear. Jenny felt her blood run cold and an overwhelming sense of dread washed over her. It was happening.
"Mark? What the fucks going on? What are all these bags?" Chris was sounding a lot like Claire had the night before, except, with a much deeper tone. Jenny froze. She didn't know what to do. Then she heard Marks voice again.
"Jenny just thinks it would be best for her to take some time away after la-" Mark had been interrupted, and Jenny heard him stumbling.
"Speaking of last night, that's the one I fucking owe you. Now, here's the one for helping that scheming little bitch sneak away." Jenny heard another thud, she ran into the front room to find Chris on top of Mark, repetitively punching him in the face. The shriek Jenny let out was almost blood curdling, she ran at Chris and tried to push him off Mark but with her small stature, there was no luck.
"Oh so you're actually here?! Excellent." There was an evil tone to his voice. He grabbed her by her collar and threw her across the room. "I'll get to you in a minute."
Taking his opportunity, Mark waited for Chris to turn away from him when he threw his next punch. Mark grabbed the punch and used his own body weight to throw him off, wrestling him into an arm bar, and taking the pleasure of kicking him in the face in the process.
"Jenny, get the bags and go!" Mark had put Chris in the arm bar for two reasons, the first was to get Jenny enough time to get out of there, the second was to make sure he had enough breath in his lungs for a longer fight.
The scene became a whirlwind and seemed to be in fast forward as it only got worse from there. Chris struggled under him, Mark raised his leg and brought it back down into Chris' face to try and stop the bastard from getting free.
Jenny grabbed as many bags as she could carry and ran down to the car, taking out her phone and calling 911. After reporting the fight, Jenny ran back to the apartment to see if Mark had been hurt any further. As she got to the front door his face was covered in blood. But so was Chris'.
Mark was getting the upper hand when Chris saw Jenny back at the door. He pushed past Mark, making a bee line for Jenny. She screamed, falling to the floor out of fear of Chris' previous behaviour. His history informed her that he wasn't ashamed of the neighbours knowing and as he raised his arm to take a swing, Chris felt something snag his arm. Mark had managed to grab it and took a play out of Jenny's playbook, twisting Chris' arm up his back and shoving him into the wall by the front door.
Mark decided to take it one step further and kicked Chris in the back of the knee, forcing him to the floor. Whilst this was going on, the police had turned up. They ran up to the apartment, seeing someone pinned to the floor and immediately grabbed Mark, thinking he was the one to cause trouble. Jenny quickly corrected them, stating that Mark was defending her when Chris attempted to attack her.
For everyone's safety, Mark and Chris were both put into cuffs until the police collected their stories and corroborated them with the neighbours. Mark was still given a warning due to the excessive force used in self defence, but was released. Chris, losing his temper at the police officers, was kept in cuffs, and even though Mark and Jenny chose not to press charges, Chris was still taken down to the station for his behaviour toward the officers.
Mark and Jenny took their time getting the rest of her stuff out of the apartment, Jenny made sure to leave behind her key and her engagement ring, she had no use for either of those items anymore.
As they arrived home, Mark had noticed his phone had died and put it on charge. It took a few minutes to turn back on, but when it did there were a hundred or more notifications from Claire. She could wait. She wasn't a priority anymore. He sat on the sofa and lay his head back. Jenny went to the freezer to get out an ice pack.
