The next few days were pretty uneventful but then Friday finally came around and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't obsessing about Marcee all week. I kept thinking of our time together and the instant connection I felt with her. She felt amazing and even just thinking about her made me want to 'take care of business' a few times this week to cope.
Friday morning came and I made a real attempt to actually clean up and be presentable. While I wasn't trying to woo Mark so to speak, I felt, in a way, he was like Marcee's big brother, and I had to make him feel comfortable with taking her out. I combed through my hair, shaved, put on cologne, and even put on completely clean clothes.
I showed up and Mark was already there getting out towels and cleaners.
"Hey! Can you grab the wheel stuff?" He yelled like today was any other day. His mind was clearly not where mine was, so I just rolled with things casually through the morning looking for the right time to talk.
The morning went fairly as usual. We worked hard, cleaned cars, and didn't have much of a chance to talk. I had nothing else on my mind but whether or not I may have a date tonight. Finally, we had a break and we sat down. He seemed as casual as ever and it seemed he didn't even think about it.
"What's up loser?" he asked as he sat down next to me.
"Nothing..." I answered plainly as I chomped into an apple. "You?"
"Nah... but I think that new cleaner is working on the wheels better and it doesn't stink like the old stuff." He said as he opened a bag of chips from the vending machine shoving a cluster in his mouth dropping crumbs all over himself.
"Yeah... totally" I answered half-heartedly only partially paying attention to what he said. My insides seemed to be wrestling as I stood on the edge of a big moment. A make or break second that could choose the outcome of my life.
"So um... I was um wondering... " I asked as I ran my fingers through my hair, wringing the back of my neck, and sat up.
"About a date?" He responded quickly. "With Marcee?" he smirked shoving another clutch of chips in his mouth.
I turned and looked at him a little surprised he even remembered. "Um yeah? Kinda?"
"Well..." he said with chips in his mouth "I wanted to ask. Do you mean a real date or..." pouring the rest of the chips in his mouth, "are you just looking for a booty call?" He said as chips jumped from his lips like paratroopers.
I paused realizing I didn't have anything but sex on my mind. I thought of Marcee's body and how it felt to touch her and be with her. I knew what kind of answer he was looking for so I quickly scrambled for anything I could think of.
"Oh um no" coughing to stall "I totally was thinking of a real date. Yeah... I mean like dinner or something. A real date."
He chuckles, "Yeah, right. Are you coming up with it all right now?"
I felt so defenseless. He knew me so well. He had the code to my force fields. He knew my moves because half of them were his moves I copied.
"Oh, come on man. Okay, I don't have much planned but you're right. Marcee deserves a real date. I'll give her one."
He smiled and looked away. I wasn't sure how much different he felt from Marcee right now, but it does seem like parts of the same person in two bodies. Or are they two people in two different bodies? I felt confused yet interested enough to try more.
"Okay, you can pick her up at 6."
I smiled and my stomach ached feeling excited. We wrapped up the day and I ducked out a bit early not seeing Mark anywhere. I was making plans in my head. It had to be something new, something Mark had never heard of before. I thought about Marcee and how much we know about each other and yet how little we know about each other. I got some ideas and got to work. I got home and put things together getting everything ready. I took another shower and dressed nicely, and it was time to go pick her up. I wondered what she was doing right now. How long ago did she change? How much time would we have together? I decided to roll with it and just showed up at Mark's house.
I walked up with a bouquet of roses and knocked on the door. I noticed his dad's car was gone and remembered that he switched and started working late shifts so he was gone most of the night. I waited and the door cracked opened. I looked up and I couldn't believe my eyes. It was Marcee. She looked as beautiful as ever and was dressed in a striking casual yellow sundress with sunflowers on it. Her hair was pulled back in a decorative ponytail and she wore white tennis shoes on her small feminine feet. She had put on makeup and painted her nails. It suddenly dawned on me that Mark had to learn how to do all of that.
I stepped back and put my hand to my chest. "Wow ... you look ... beautiful!" I smiled wholeheartedly and almost forgot about the flowers as I reached up and took her hand. She glanced at them reminding me to hand them to her. She cradled them close and smiled while taking a deep breath. It seemed odd because Mark never cared about flowers before.
Any idea of Mark just disappeared from my head. I didn't even think about him and only thought about Marcee. I felt enamored with her.
I walked her to the car and treated her like a lady. I had always done this with dates but never really told Mark much about it, so I feel it caught her off guard a little. I smiled opening the car door and helping her in closing it and walking around.
I climbed in and she laid the roses across her lap and looked at me smiling. She looked happy. She looked excited. A part of me felt we shared the same emotions right now, but I wasn't sure. I smiled back and rubbed her hand before starting the car and pulling away. I took her hand again as we drove and fumbled around for something to talk about.
With Mark I'd either not say anything or tell him some stupid joke I heard. But it didn't feel right to talk to her like I spoke to Mark. She was different and special.
"Thanks for going out with me tonight. I have to say, I've been looking forward to this all week."
"Really? You... you thought about me?" She responded unable to stop smiling.
"Of course baby, you are hard to forget." I say in a caring soft and loving tone. I bring her hand to my mouth kissing the back of it feeling more intimate. "I have a fun date planned for us."
"Ohh... I bet." She glanced sideways back and forth. "Is it the usual Olive Garden, the infamous overlook, and then suddenly back at your place for some music and ... 'chatting'?" ending her phrase using air quotes.
I smiled in how she knew my 'usual' first date. I'm glad I changed things up.
"Nah... you are more special than that. I have something special for you." I replied with a smile and a half wink.
I felt like I'm out with a girl I'd been thinking about for years, not a week. I felt like I knew her so well but at the same time, I didn't know her at all. We drove a few miles and pulled up to our Elementary School. I glanced over and saw a confused look on her face and put the car in park turning it off.
"Remember this place?" I asked leaning back in the seat.
"Well duh.... Of course I do. Why are we here?" she responded plainly adjusting the hem of her dress.
"Remember that spot?" I said pointing to a part of the playground. "That is where we met. That is where Mark became my best friend in the whole world."
I noticed her body jerk a little. Her knee moved up and her hand moved to her mouth. She breathed slightly faster but remained cool. I knew it registered like a flood of memories came back to her.
"You remember that?" She said in a shaky voice.
"Come on." I said opening the door.
She took a moment to fumble with her purse and I noticed how she didn't quite have smooth movements like other women. Things weren't completely familiar with where to put things, her purse, adjusting her clothing, and even something like exiting a car can feel awkward. It gave me a moment to walk around and open her door. I reached out my hand and offered to help her out.
She blushed and slowly turned adjusting her dress noticing how it probably felt so new for her to wear one, but I waited patiently as she held it and turned in the seat putting her low heels on the ground. She held her legs together, took my hand, and slowly stood up. She took a moment to adjust and then she smiled and walked with me. I took her hand and we walked together towards the playground.
"So, I remember seeing you and I saw you playing with something. I was SO curious what it was I had to find out. I came up to you asking and saw you were playing with a snake!" I said laughing.
"I asked you what you had, and you were just so casual with it. I had never seen a snake that wasn't on TV or in the zoo and here you are handling it like the Crocodile Hunter! I was so impressed." I said half laughing and half staring off into space.
She stayed silent as we walked and made our way to the spot glancing up at me and back down.
"You held it, but you weren't afraid to let it crawl on your arm. It totally freaked me out but also seemed so cool. You didn't care. You asked if I wanted to touch it and I slowly touched it with one finger. I watched you slowly take it over to near to the fence and you gently set it down letting it go."
"Yeah, I remember. It was just a garter snake. It wasn't a big deal. I caught them all the time on my Grandpa's farm. They are fun but I remember you looked pretty freaked out."
"Well in some ways I was but I remember it was SO cool. I think that was the moment I knew I wanted to be your friend. I had no idea how close we'd get later in life." I said as I led her to the swing set. She took the queue and smoothed her dress down while sitting down in the swing. I moved behind her and started to pull and push her gently. We took a few moments to take in the environment. My head filled with memories of us playing on this playground. Pretending to be this and that. Some days we were monsters and the next day we were robots. We'd play football and then we'd be swinging on the bars defending Mars.
I slowed her down on the swing and as she came to a stop I walked around and took her hand helping her up and we walked back to the car hand in hand like we'd been together for years. I felt so conflicted. I was with someone I talked about jacking off with and the girls in school I wanted and graphically talking about what we wanted to do with them. We watched porn together. We talked about losing our virginities. With such a deep history together, I keep trying to reconcile it with who I'm seeing now. Marcee wasn't Mark but Mark was in there. Marcee didn't act like Mark at all, but I knew it was still him in a way.