"Why are we running?" Marilyn asked in a hushed voice. "We weren't doing anything illegal. We weren't really going to steal the car! And you have a concussion. You're not supposed to run anyway."
"No. But we are two black kids in a wealthy neighborhood inspecting cars late at night. That sure looks like trouble to me!" he whispered back.
"This isn't a purely white neighborhood. I only live a few streets away. It's my neighborhood, too!"
"We'd better not find out, girl."
"Not sure what impression us hiding in the bushes is going to make, though!" she hissed and at the same time tried to get rid of some twigs that were poking her in the back of her neck.
"Oh, shhh! And stop fidgeting!"
There was a couple strolling down the sidewalk, and so Marilyn's only response to Michael was her pouting her lips in his direction, which he commented on with a grimace.

The couple appeared to be in a soft-spoken conversation, of which Marilyn could only catch fragments, and they walked leisurely and slow. When they had almost come up to the driveway Marilyn and Michael were hiding next to, they entered the cone of light emitted by a street lamp.

Marilyn just wanted to tell Michael that the people they were hiding from were actually black, too, which made hiding even sillier, when something else about the lean, long-legged girl with the perfect braids and the flat sandals hit her.
"I know her!" Marilyn exclaimed a little louder than she had wanted to, and quickly covered her mouth with her hand, as if that could do anything about her being heard. But maybe it was the wind blowing the other way, or the couple being too consumed with themselves, because they didn't seem to hear anything.
"I know her," Marilyn repeated in a whisper.
"Really?"
"Yes! That's Josie! She's a classmate of mine! "

For a moment they just sat there, watching the couple, that had stopped at the opening of the driveway. They were standing close to each other, holding each other's hands. Josie's Indian blouse billowed slightly in the breeze, momentarily pressing against her body and showing a glimpse of her figure, then flaring up again, obscuring her. In contrast, her braids flowed down her back rich and heavy like water from a fountain.
"Girl, she's beautiful!" Michael whispered, his voice saturated with what was probably awe. "Is she a friend of yours?"
Marilyn shrugged indecisively. Partly, because she really wasn't sure, if she should call Josie a friend of hers, but mainly, because hearing Michael talk like that about another girl seemed to glue her tongue to the roof of her mouth, and she needed some time to free it again.

The young man moved Josie closer. She raised her face to him, letting the flood of her braids rush even further down her back, and he kissed her mouth. First carefully and shy, then deeper, letting go of her hands to pull her body into his.

"Oh my Gosh!" Marilyn gasped, clasping her hand over her mouth again, this time is surprise.
Michael broke into a hushed laugh. "Oh, wow! They are making out, and we have front row seats. They are giving us the full show! Geez!"
"She has a boyfriend!" Marilyn whispered.
Michael grinned. "Well, I'd say that's obvious!"
Marilyn turned to him. "Yeah, well... here comes the best bit: It's not HIM!!!"
Michael looked at her, his eyeballs and teeth gleaming in the darkness of their hiding place as his mouth formed an exaggerated 'O'. Then his grin returned. "So she's cheating on her boyfriend with that brother?"
"It sure looks like it. And you know her boyfriend, too! Well, you saw him, at any rate. He was there at my house the other day. His name is Thomas."
"That pale-faced, skinny guy with the light-brown hair, who didn't know a screw wrench from a hex wrench?"
"No, that's Brian. No, Thomas was one of the other two. The tall one. I don't remember him saying much, though. Well, not to you anyway."
"The other two didn't leave a lasting impression on me."
Marilyn smiled to herself and turned back to the scene. "Gee! Can you suffocate from having a tongue shoved down your throat?"
Giggling, it was Michael's turn to cover his mouth with his hand. "I don't know. But that girl is sure bound to find out!"
"God, I swear I know him from somewhere..."
"Girl, you really don't want to drag God into this!"
Marilyn dismissed his remark with a wave of her hand. She knew, she had seen the guy before, and it bugged her that she couldn't place him.

"He seems a bit too old to be a High School student," Michael whispered, apparently picking up on her struggle to put a tag on Josie's company – a name, a place, just anything. "He just doesn't look the part."
"No, he doesn't go to my school, I don't think."

The wind picked up and shifted slightly, carrying a whiff of patchouli over to Marilyn and Michael in the bushes. Marilyn remembered the smell. Where did it belong? Where had she smelled it before? And suddenly she knew it.
"The Indian Elephant!"
Michael gave her a sideways glance. "Biology isn't my strongest suit."
"No, no, no! Not the animal! The tea parlour! At the mall! 'The Indian Elephant'."
The corners of Michael's mouth twitched towards an expression that he didn't allow to form. "I don't know that place. I've never been to the mall." And when Marilyn looked at him, he added, "I don't really get to do such things, you know?"
Marilyn nodded slowly. "Any-hoo... That guy, he's a waiter at the 'The Indian Elephant'. I happened to see him and Josie talk, when she left the place the other day. Some other girls from school were around, too, and asked if she was with her boyfriend, Thomas, but she wasn't. And she didn't really want to talk about it, either, it seemed."
"I can't imagine why!!" Michael's tone and attitude were dripping with sarcasm.

For a moment they kept looking at the couple in amused silence. Michael was the first to speak again.
"Man, he's really feeling her up!"
He truly was.
"Yeah. They should get a room!"
As if that line had been a cue, Josie and the waiter started to move down the driveway towards the house. He had his arm around her, and Marilyn couldn't see his hand. She wasn't sure, but she had the feeling it was down the backside of her pants. Josie pushed a key in the lock while her friend hugged her tightly from behind, then the door opened and quickly closed again behind them.
"Whoa!" Marilyn said a bit louder, now that they were alone again. "Whoa!" That sure was an interesting bit of news.

They crawled out of the greenery and started to brush themselves off, pulling twigs and leaves out of their hair and clothes, when in a room on the first floor the light was switched on, drawing their attention back to the house. Josie and the waiter could be seen as they went and drew the curtains. But they didn't hide the scene inside. The two of them toyed with each other, a mix of tag and tickling, it seemed. Josie appeared to be laughing as her company caught her around the waist.
"Those curtains aren't doing a thing!" Michael said astonished.

The atmosphere in the room changed. It could be felt all the way out in the driveway. They were closer to each other, now; tighter. Their movements became more urgent and erratic. He could hardly loosen his mouth from her throat long enough to pull his shirt over his head. Her blouse had been on her bare skin; she was wearing nothing under it. When she bent backwards under his mouth on her chest, her bare breasts was clearly visible. He was kissing her, touching her, squeezing her. She was feeling for his pants.

Marilyn was aware of Michael's breathing next to her. She heard him swallow and wondered, if he was turned on. What was he thinking? Was he longing to be in that room with Josie? Was he thinking at all? She didn't dare to look at him. She kept her eyes glued to the window.

The waiter had pulled Josie's pants and – so it seemed – her panties down in one move. The ceiling lights were shining on her round, naked backside and on the hand that massaged it.
"Are they not going to close the blinds?" Michael's voice was a hoarse whisper.
Marilyn just slowly shook her head, not so much as an answer, more as an expression of the fact that she seemed to have misplaced all of her vocabulary, maybe even her voice. This wasn't a naughty movie, this was really happening. Right in front of them, her and Michael, only a couple of feet away. And in the room, they seemed to be totally unaware that they could be seen from the outside.

They were both fumbling with his pants, then Josie pulled them down. And there he was – in all his glory. A silhouette that left no room for doubt about the nature of their encounter. Josie was touching him gently, and he tipped his head back. Then he cupped her face for a kiss and moving her hand away from him, wrapped his arm around her waist.

With a jerk the waiter pulled Josie close and Marilyn looked away. She hadn't thought she would, but she did. She felt – shock. And embarrassment. To see this man enjoying Josie, while Michael was so close to her. To see Josie's naked body arch backwards in his arms. To see his naked body – stand between them. To see the jolt that went through her, as he...

She didn't want to see his carnal movements as he did what she imagined Thomas had done many times before. She didn't pity Thomas. Or did she? He deserved to be betrayed. He wasn't a nice person. And it had felt great to see him get what he deserved for once. But this was too much. She didn't want the details – not so many details, anyway.

"Let's go," Michael said in a quiet voice. He had averted his eyes from Josie's window and was looking somewhere else.
"Okay," was all Marilyn said.

They walked home in silence. Michael had his hands deep in his pockets, again. When Marilyn looked up at him, he would smile a little, but no conversation came up, though she tried frantically to think of something. There had been a childlike, uncomplicated innocence about the time they had spent together at night. Now, it was gone. They were a young woman and a young man alone together at night, every night, and Josie and the waiter had demonstrated all too clearly what a man did with a woman when alone. With a real woman. A beautiful woman. A desirable woman. With someone like Josie. Not someone like her.

As if anybody wanted to see YOUR tits, ugly-Edmond! Oh, please! You'll have to pay someone to look at them!

That had been Thomas' words. Marilyn had never had the slightest doubt that every heterosexual guy in school wanted to see the breasts of his girlfriend. And not only the guys at school. Marilyn just hadn't thought that Josie would show them to anyone but Thomas. And to that respect, Marilyn had apparently been wrong.

Michael thought Josie was beautiful. Every man thought she was beautiful. Because she was beautiful. And every man thought she, Marilyn, was ugly. Ugly-Edmond. Michael spent his nights with her walking around dark, empty streets, when he could be between the sheets with someone like Josie. Why did he do that? Because he had a concussion. Because he wasn't allowed to do anything else.

There are many things that I'm forbidden to do at the moment. No running, no sports of any kind, no physical work, nothing like that for the next two weeks or so.

He was a star with fans and groupies. If a restaurant waiter could have Josie, whom could someone like Michael have?

If a restaurant waiter could have Josie – maybe Michael could have Josie, too?

Girl, she's beautiful! Is she a friend of yours?

The next day was a Saturday, and Marilyn was more than grateful for that. Had she needed the weekend to gather her strength to deal with Brian, Peter and Thomas and her entire school situation before, she now needed it to catch up on some rest and on her studies. Although her father insisted on the whole family being at breakfast at 9 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, and her mother insisted on them all being fully dressed, when they sat down at the table, Marilyn normally still had the rest of the days to spend as she saw fit, apart from going to church on Sundays. She spent them both largely in her room, sleeping and studying. But mostly sleeping. Her mother did seem to be a bit concerned, asking her daughter, if she was feeling sick, and suggesting that she didn't overdo the studying. But it hadn't even been a whole week since Marilyn had taken up her nightly activities with Michael, and so her mother most likely put the situation down to an especially stressful week at school.

In the night from Saturday to Sunday, Michael returned to Marilyn's house, and they resumed their walks. It was a little quieter and also a bit awkward at first, but they soon seemed to find their rhythm again, and by the end of Sunday night, it was almost as if nothing had ever happened.

The bandages, that had covered the abrasions on Michael's hands, were removed, and he was now only wearing the firm bandage that protected his sprained wrist, painfully reminding Marilyn that the two weeks during which he had been grounded by his concussion and doctor's order were drawing to an end. If all went well, he would be back in business – literally – by Tuesday.

It was a bittersweet thought. On the one hand, Marilyn was happy to see him heal, on the other, it meant that he was returning to his world – and that was a world in which there was hardly any space for her. He would be working long hours – could he still spend time with her in the night? And what was more, would he want to? With the concussion out of the way, even if he had free time, wouldn't he rather spend it doing whatever else he enjoyed? And with whomever else he enjoyed doing it with?

Marilyn considered addressing the situation, but finally decided against it. If her time with Michael was to come to an end, then she wanted to make the very best of what was left of it and not spoil it by some dreary conversation about the inevitable. She didn't want to give him the impression, that she was getting above herself. She knew who he was, and she knew who she was. And that was that.

Monday started as a rather uneventful day at school. Brian, Peter and Thomas seemed to be occupied with something else and showed no interest in Marilyn. There had been clear skies in the morning, and the sun had been shining brightly, and so she had put on a light summer dress that would keep her feeling comfortable, when she had to cross school grounds under the sun between periods.

It was during 5th period that the weather suddenly started to changed. Dark clouds gathered overhead, flashes darted across the sky, and Marilyn started to worry, if she would make it to her last period without getting wet, as she hadn't brought an umbrella.

When the bell rang and everybody started to walk to their next class, the first heavy drops of rain started to fall, and gusts of wind blew through the passages between the buildings. Blackness, ominous and ugly, had swamped out all traces of the summer sky, and so the students hurried, the girls holding on to their skirts and covering their heads with theirs books. Marilyn was one of them.

But no umbrella would have kept them dry in what was to come. The teacher had hardly closed the door behind the last student, when the thunderstorm broke loose, so furiously, that the windows shook. The rain was blown horizontal and looking outside, the main building across the lawn appeared to be hidden in fog. Leaves and smaller branches were hurled through the air. Tiles were blown off the roofs and crashed on the pavement beneath. How in Heaven's name was Marilyn supposed to get home? At the moment, leaving school would be out of the question because of the falling roof tiles. But what if the storm stopped and the rain kept on? Marilyn would literally be soaked to the bone before she had even left the school grounds.

The storm raged through most of 6th period, then, almost as suddenly as it had come, it cleared up, leaving a blue and happy sky. And by the time 6th period ended and students started to file out, the only thing that remained from the odd weather were a bit of debris and large puddles in the parking lot and the curbs, where the drains hadn't been able to suck the water in quick enough. Students stood around marvelling at the roof tiles, which, although broken to pieces, still were so much larger than they had ever seemed from afar, or gazed at the gaping holes they had left in the roofs of their school. Guys and their buddies played in the puddles as they attempted to wade to their cars, and girls screamed at the slightest possibility that they might get wet as a more or less intended side effect.

Truth was, clearly, that the splashing was a way of courting and catching the attention of one girl or another. Marilyn walked passed the front of the main building, watching. She didn't have a car or anyone to take her home, and so she had no reason to be in the parking lot. But she would have liked to be a part of it. That was silly, she told herself. She didn't want to get wet, and the water was anything but clean, but as she watched the sun reflect on the puddles and Josie squeal and run from Thomas as he stormed through one, shoes in his hand and pant legs rolled up to his knees, she envied Josie. Josie had it all. The looks, the grades, the popularity, the football captain boyfriend, the secret and doubtless cool lover. And although Josie didn't know it, she had had Michael's attention, too.

Josie.

~~~~~
Hello!  <33

It's wonderful to see you here again! :D

This scene, in which Marilyn and Michael are hiding in the bushes and watch Josie and the waiter, had been in my head for an extremely long time, almost from the very beginning of the story.  I love this chapter, because it's the first one, in which pieces start to come together, and you learn why I told you all that stuff about Josie before. :")

The title for this chapter wasn't actually my idea, but the idea of my friend Sue. I had considered simply calling it 'Josie', but wasn't happy with it, because it would give so much of the story away. "The Elephant in the Room" is an awesome title, though. The waiter from 'The Indian Elephant' is in Josie's room, and that fact causes the awkward situation between Marilyn and Michael. That's just wonderfully mixed up!

I really hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did. If so, maybe leave me a comment. I love to hear from all of you! <3

Or maybe vote? :D

And if you really want to make my day, please do both! :")

Thank you for reading! And have a wonderful day!

Much Love,   ^^°v°^^