''What's the purpose of this again?'' Marshall questioned raising an eyebrow as he watched Jodie clip her seatbelt in.

''I don't really know, Taylor's paying so I could exactly say no,'' Jodie shrugged, taking her phone out of her bag that was perched on her lap, sending a quick text to Taylor letting her know they were leaving.

''So when I offer to pay for things you wanna rip my head off but your happy when Taylor offers?'' Marshall questioned, rolling the car through his front gates and onto the main road.

''Yep, basically,'' she nodded tucking her phone back away again, ''it's just you have loads of money already which can be intimidating and it's just doesn't seem as thoughtful if you offer to pay than someone who has very little. You know it just feels a little like bribery.''

''So I'm bribing you to be my girlfriend now?''

''No, I didn't say that,'' Jodie defended.

''Kinda did though,'' Marshall pointed out, mumbling under his breath, causing Jodie to roll her eyes.

''Would you rather pay then, I'm sure Taylor wouldn't mind, not like she's been saving for months so she could get her nails done or anything,'' Jodie's tone was more bitter than it had been in her head and the words hung in the air for the longest time, making her regret not taking them back immediately.

''So I'm selfish now. Flaunting my wealth in front of people like you?''

''People like me. You mean normal people who have to work two jobs and have a housemate who also has two jobs in order to keep paying their bills,'' it was then Marshall had stopped the car and Jodie really thought he was about to start shouting at her, but instead, he kept his voice low and calm.

''We're here, you want help or does the fact I don't need crutches to walk intimidates you,'' Jodie just stared at him, trying to keep her mouth closed, but what she said next was not what she had intended to say.

''Don't bother picking me up.''

+++

''Marshall not staying thought we would get lunch and talk travel arrangements and the plan for the weekend?'' Taylor asked, seemingly confused as to why it was just Jodie who had walked into the nail bar.

''Yeah well something came up,'' Jodie shrugged. As she sat down to choose what type and colour nails she wanted she debated with herself whether to bring up what just happened with Mashall in the car; although she wasn't even entirely sure what had actually happened. All she'd said what having money and paying for everything for others didn't sit right with her especially when the person you're paying for has significantly less.

As the women on the other side of the counter started filing and then adding colour to her newly attached nails Jodie replayed the conversation over and over in her mind. Trying to figure out if Marshall had somehow misinterpreted what she had said. Certain words brought up red flags in her mind; 'intimidated,' 'bribery,' 'selfish,' Those were the words Marshall had repeated back at her and it was then she realised he'd taken what she'd said in a very negative way.

''Shit,'' she muttered, causing the woman doing her nails to look up in panic as if she had done something wrong, ''oh, no sorry I was just thinking about something, I love my nails,'' the woman nodded, smiling a little before going back to painting.

Taylor had also heard Jodie's not so whispered curse and leant over to ask what was the matter, ''I'll tell you over lunch,'' she responded. Taylor nodded and leant back in her seat, tapping her floor impatiently on the floor an action she usually did when waiting for a good story or gossip. Jodie on the other hand really hoped that Taylor had some good advice for once.

+++

Marshall watched Jodie as she used her crutches to cross the street and into the nail salon. He knew that they'd have an argument over something stupid someday especially since everything had been going so well too. He just never thought the issue would have been over money and he hated that that was the problem, especially when he knew what it was like to work so hard to support yourself and how accepting money form other made it seem as if everything you'd worked for just seemed pointless.

He understood her point there but didn't understand what she meant when she felt like it was bribery. How was buying gifts and offering to pay for things bribery, it wasn't like he was going to pay for her to get her nails done so to make her carry on living with him when she no longer needed help with basic things.

As he thought over what he needed to do he found himself parked in front of a familiar house. A house he hadn't really ever been in, he just knew the person who lived there, they had never officially been friends. However, it seemed that they had more things or knew more people than Marshall initially thought.

It took Marshall five minutes to figure out what to say even then he wasn't entirely confident, but he could see curtains in some of the curtains in the neighbours' houses twitch because of how long an unknown car had been parked in their street. He was nervous, he was nervous because he was trying to work out if what he was about to do would make things worse or better. He got halfway up the driveway, when a sudden thought hit him, what was he doing. He had friends to talk about this stuff, Denaun, Royce, Fifty even dre and Paul would have better advice for him. So he turned away and hopped back into the car, starting the engine and pulling away, confident that nobody had seen him.

Unfortunately, if Marshall had looked up at the front window he would have seen a face. A face that had had a smug smile stretched across it because the thought of having Marshall coming to him in regards to advice on Jodie was funny to him. When the car was out of sight he looked down at his phone to see the text again.

Marshall: I need to talk it's about Jodie, I'm not going to beat you up promise.

You: Sure I'm home now

Marshall 2mins ago: Something came up

''Nah you just pussied out cause you're too scared,'' Joe chuckled ducking away from the window, ''I'll find out what happened anyway, Royce's big mouth will be useful for once,'' he muttered to himself as he made his way downstairs. No matter how many he said he didn't care about not pursuing something with Jodie, he knew deep down he was lying to himself and hated the fact Marshall had the opportunity now.