“Tell me what?”
Marlon leans forward, brushing his nose against mine, before pressing his lips against my cheek.
“That I like you. Most ardently.”
Frankly, if I were to die right there, I could die the happiest girl alive.
“And besides, didn’t you say you’ve always dreamed for your first kiss to be in the rain?” he murmurs against my ear. I pull back, laughing.
“You’re a loser.”
“I am. And you love it”
We fall back together, our mouths unable to stay away from each other.
It’s not until I hear a violent honk that Marlon and I spring apart. Bright headlights shine on us from my parents’ car. They’re back from picking up the food.
“Um…” Marlon says. He steps away from me, leaving me cold. I realise that I’m practically soaked to the bone. Mum steps out of the car first, a poncho over her head.
“Marlon, Jas?” she screeches, horrified, “What are you doing in the rain? You’re going to get sick.”
She ushers us both into the house, where Ria is standing at the front, snickering.
“They were making out, Mum,” Ria says, and I nearly lunge at her.
“Is all the kissing worth catching a fever?” Mum chastises.
I want to tell her, yes. Yes it is.
Thirty Five
Ididn’t think that the most romantic night of my lifewould end with Marlon and I, wrapped in towels, sitting across from my parents in our living room.
Mum’s eyes dart between us, her lips parted in shock. She isn’t angry though, I don’t think. Thank goodness.
“So all this time, you were both faking it?” she asks. Her voice heightens a little.
Marlon and I glance at each other. He’s fighting a smirk, I can tell.
“Um, yes, Mum we were,” I say.
Once my parents had ushered Marlon and I into the house, she demanded we both take turns standing under hot water in the shower for at least five minutes, to fight off any impending cold. Then, after we were settled into more comfortable clothes, Marlon and I decided to come clean to them about what had been going on for the last couple months. Our way of starting afresh. Which leads us to now.
“Why,” she shrieks. I wince, and Marlon places a hand atop my leg.
“Tita, with all due respect, we both thought faking our relationship and faking a breakup would stop you and my Mum from…well…”
“We wanted you both to stop trying to set us up so much,” I interject, and the words flow easier than I ever thought that they would.
I try to summarise years and years of the built up anxiousness, frustration in words the best I can.
“You, and everyone else in our families were always beingtoomuch.”
“Jaslene used to hate me, you know,” Marlon adds, and I slap him.
“That doesn’t help.”
Mum turns to me, brow quirked.
