Marlene

A couple of weeks passed by and today it was Friday, and also Jeffery's birthday.

I grabbed my stack of paperwork and walked towards Harry's office. I knocked and opened the door to find him sitting there on the phone while typing on his computer. "...thank you, you as well." He hung up and smiled. "Princess?"

"Just came to drop these off, and to let you know I will be leaving right after work to go see my brother, it's his birthday." He hummed.

"They're having a party for him?" I nodded. "Bring me a slice of cake back yeah?" I giggled walking over to sit in front of his desk.

"You can't come with me?" He looked down at the small pile of work and nodded. "Really, you aren't busy?"

"Not for you I'm not." I giggled pinching his cheek. "Give me till four and we'll go, alright sweets?" I nodded getting off the desk and walking out to go get my stuff. I sat down and closed my computer when a small knock from my cubicle caught my attention.

Susie the receptionist smiled at me. "Marlene, there's a man in the front who's looking for you, says his name is Shane." I sighed standing up to go over with her.

Shane stood there in his usual dress shirt and pants, his hair pushed back and the slight stubble on his chin. He saw me and smiled. "Marley."

"Shane, what are you doing here?" He sighed.

"I wanted to know why you've been ignoring me, asked your mom and she said you were technically single." I had forgotten to tell my mom that Harry and I were actually dating this time. I'd set that straight tonight.

"Well I'm not, Harry and I are together now. You need to go, if he sees you here I won't stop him from beating you up." He chuckled. "What do you want from me, honestly Shane it's getting annoying."

"A second chance, when I saw you at church I knew I had made a mistake-"

"I gave you a second chance, I gave you a third too. Please go, because I'm at work and I don't want to talk to you." I said calmly.

Behind me, I heard someone clear their throat and I quickly turned to find Harry watching our interaction.

"Harry, hey-"

"Susie can you call security please, this man's not supposed to be here." Shanes' eyes widened and he quickly stepped back. "Leave." His voice sounded scary, kinda sexy.

Damnit Marlene calm yourself.

"Marley, you've changed." Shane turned and walked towards the elevator.

Harry walked over and looked at me. "Are you okay, did he say anything to you?" I shook my head. "Let's get out of here." I followed him towards the elevator.

*

Harry drove towards my parent's house where we were having dinner and cake for my brother. He had his hand on my lap as I played with his rings. "Is Marley a nickname or just because it's short for Marlene?" I giggled.

"My friends began calling me that in college because I smoked so much weed." He laughed shaking his head. "My sister couldn't say Marlene so she'd call me that too," I explained. I set his hand down on my lap and he quickly moved it to my inner thigh and squeezed it. "So touchy, I like it." I crossed my legs trapping his hand between them.

"Oh, what a lovely place to get trapped." He tickled the back of my thigh.

I laughed moving his hand away. "I'm ticklish, we'll crash if you keep doing that." Instead, he held my hand as he drove. When we made it to my parent's house he stepped out of the car and opened my door. I held his hand and walked up to the path to the house, opening the door and looking around the house. "Mom!" I called out.

"Marlene is that you, we're in here sweetie!" I looked at Harry who was looking at a photo on the wall. It was his first time here at my parent's house.

"I'll give you a tour in a minute." He agreed walking with me into the kitchen. My mom and two of her church friends all stood in the kitchen making dinner as we walked in. They looked up and gasped. "Hello, mom you remember Harry." She looked at me and then at Harry with a big smile.

"Of course you helped Marlene with the cookies." He nodded walking over to give her a hug.

"It's wonderful to see you, you have such a beautiful home." The woman practically melted at the sound of Harry's accent.

Honestly same, nothing was better than Harry's voice.

"Oh thank you, this is Esther and Kris from my church." He shook their hands. "This is Harry, Marlene's friend-"

"Boyfriend." Harry corrected her. I looked at my mom who gave me a look of surprise.

"Mom, can I speak to you in private?" She took off her apron and followed me to the dining room. Harry sat down at the bar and waited for me.

"So you two are together now?" She asked. "You're not lying to me again are you?"

"No, it's real, we've been together almost a month now." She looked so happy until I shook my head. "Now where the hell do you get the idea to tell Shane where I work." She looked away. "I'm not going to marry him, mom, I'm not interested in a man who can't be respectful and has to brag about his accomplishments like he's better than everyone else." He also couldn't get a woman off but I could never say that to my mom. She probably thought I was still a virgin.

"Shane is a perfect man, I'll tell him to back off now that you're with Harry, but know he means well." I heard someone walking in and quickly turned to see Jeff.

"Hey!" I smiled walking over to hug him. "You're so old!" He rolled his eyes. My mom walked out and I quickly shook my head. "She can be so invasive sometimes."

"You can say that shit twice." He agreed.

"Hey listen, Harry's here." Jeff smiled. "Guess who won?" My brother made a joke that in a competition between Emily and myself, Emily was technically winning. But now that he was mine, I think I won. Not to say Harry was just a prize, he was so much more.

"You two are dating, for real?" I nodded. "Jesus, you slept with him too? I can tell." He whispered.

"I don't kiss and tell, Jeffrey your poor virgin ears can't handle it."

"Pfft, virgin." He laughed walking away making my jaw drop.

*

At dinner, a few friends of Jeff's from church joined the table. Harry kept getting stared at by two seventeen-year-old church girls. He would smile at them and they'd practically choke on air. My mom sat down and put her hands out to pray. It was almost automatic that everyone did the same. "Lord we thank you for this food and hope that you bless our family and friends, and I give thanks that my baby boy is one year older. Amen."

"Amen." Everyone repeated.

"So, any colleges you're interested in Jeffery?" Kris asked him. Jeff looked up and nodded.

"I got accepted to a few, haven't decided yet." He shrugged. Jeff was a smart kid and very modest about it.

"Well, it's important to pick." He nodded politely. "So Marlene what have you been up to?" Great, the conversation was moved to me.

"Oh, you know, work, the usual." Kris made a face. You see to women like Kris and my mom, at almost twenty-four years old a woman should be looking for a nice man to get married to so they wouldn't have to work.

"And how long have you two been together?" She asked looking at Harry.

"A month on Monday," Harry said without hesitation. "Kris that is a lovely pin you have there other your blouse, where did you get that?" He asked making Kris smile wide and begin some story. She quickly turned to my mom and began speaking to her getting off my back. "You're welcome." He whispered in my ear.

"You're too good for me." I put my hand on the back of his head and pulled him in for a kiss. I could feel eyes on me but I didn't care.

After dinner, I helped clean the table while Harry sat and distracted my brother, even though he knew the cake was coming. I set the candles on my brother's cake in the laundry room when my mom came in.

"Marlene, I've never seen you so affectionate with someone." I nodded. "Are you still upset with me?"

"I actually like Harry." I turned to her. "He treats me like I should be treated, not like a piece of meat or housewife to clean up after him. He treats me like a person, an equal." She looked down shaking her head.

"I like Harry, but what does he have to offer you?" I blinked.

"He has a stable job and is educated. He's funny and smart, what else do you want?" She shrugged so I walked out of the room with the cake. We sang to my brother and I immediately wanted to leave. I grabbed my coat and said goodbye to everyone. Jeff sat at the steps by the door and sighed. "Here happy birthday." I handed him an envelope. He opened it and found a small stack of ten twenty dollar bills.

"Woah, thanks,  Marlene." I nodded.

"Don't show mom, and don't do drugs." He nodded giving me a hug. Harry walked into the room with a lipstick mark on his cheek the same shade as Esther's lips.

"Bye Harry it was nice seeing you again." Harry shook his hand putting something in his palm as he did. Jeffery looked down and smiled. "Thanks,  man."

"Happy birthday." We walked out of the house and towards the car.

"What did you give him?"

"Hundred dollars." I giggled, Jeff must really like Harry now.

*

The next weekend I decided to take Harry out for dinner. He seemed stressed about work but didn't want to admit it.

As we ordered something to eat he kept looking over across the restaurant. Almost as if he saw something but wasn't sure of it. "Baby, what's wrong?" He shook his head but kept looking past me. I turned around and saw a couple behind me. The man was tattooed with dark black hair. The woman had brown hair and I couldn't see her face because her back was to me. I knew Emily was blonde so it wasn't her. I looked at Harry who was blankly staring down at his menu. "You want to tell me or should I guess?"

"It's nothing, I don't want to spoil our night." I looked at him and sighed.

"Please?" I pouted. He couldn't deny my pout.

"The man I caught Emily with is over there, with Katie." My eyes are widened. "I have the urge to go over there and rip his head off, but I'm not because it's not worth it." The way he was gripping the menu said otherwise. I reached across the table and put my hands out.

"Gimme." He put his hands over mine and I quickly held and squeezed them. "You're so tense, relax for me. Take a deep breath and slowly let it out." He inhaled and closed his eyes, blowing the air out. "Good now think of me naked on a beach." He cracked a smile. "Actually don't, no need for a public boner."

"Marlene." He laughed shaking his head. "You always know how to cheer me up." We had dinner and for a while everything was fine. As we walked out of the restaurant holding hands Harry put his arm around me and pulled me in for a kiss.

"Your place or mine?" I winked putting my hand in his back pocket, squeezing his butt.

"Yours, you have to feed Polly." I gasped almost forgetting my cat. "Come on sweets." We waited for our car from the valet when I heard people besides us speaking.

"...ask him Zayn."

"That's weird." The guy said back. It was the couple Harry was talking about in the restaurant. I looked over and they both looked away awkwardly.

"Excuse you, I can hear you talking, do you know Harry?" Harry turned to look at them, instantly tensing up.

The man, Zayn I assumed, scratched the back of his head. "Oh, we've never actually met, I was a friend of Emily."

I was about to say something but then Harry spoke up. "You mean you were fucking Emily right?" Zayn looked down and Katie awkwardly rubbed her hands together. "You too right Katie?" I stood beside him and held his hand.

"She told you?"

"I caught you, actually. You know something, Emily's pregnant and in England, the baby's probably yours mate." Our car pulled up and Harry quickly opened my door. I got in and watched as he walked around. The couple stood there shaking their heads before Zayn ran up to the car and knocked on the window. Harry lowered it and waited for him to say something.

"Harry, umm, that baby can't be mine, I got my stuff snipped- I can't have kids. If it isn't yours it's someone else's. We're sorry about everything, we didn't know she was seeing anyone, it was supposed to be just casual fun." He looked between us and sighed walking away.

Harry went blank in the face as he pulled out of the parking lot. He drove towards my place and didn't say a word. Once we reached the front of my building he looked out the window. "Harry?"

"I'm going to be a father." He stated.

"Maybe." I nodded slowly.

"Marlene, I care about you but I'm giving you an out right now. My life's too fucked up to get you involved with this shit. You don't have to be with someone who is having a baby with another woman." He was giving me a choice to stay with him or leave it where we were.

"I don't want an out, I care about you too." He started out the window before putting his head against the steering wheel. "Hey, look at me." He turned his body to face mine, fear written all over his face. "I said I care about you, and I mean it. I've never felt like this, it doesn't make sense, but in a way it does. I'm not saying it will be easy but I want to be with you."

"Why?" He sounded shocked.

"Because you're...you deserve someone to be there, and I want to be there."

He sighed. "What do I do now?" He asked me.

"Wait it out, don't stop your life for her. You'll figure it out as you go."

*

"Are you insane!" I rolled my eyes taking a sip of my tea. "Marlene break up with him, run sis! He has a baby mama and you want to be with him!? For what?" Jeffrey practically yelled at me.

I almost forgot he was a man now.

"Will you shut up! I'm not going to run, it's not like he got her pregnant while we were dating. Besides it's complicated, I'm only telling you because you're my brother." He sat back in his seat and shook his head. I took him out to eat in the city, I decided I wanted to tell him before I mentioned anything to my mom. I would wait a few months to test the relationship out, but in reality, I couldn't just wait until the baby was born to bring it up.

How the hell was I supposed to just explain that my boyfriend has a baby with his abusive ex-girlfriend?

You can't.

"Do you love him?" Jeff asked.

"That's a strong word, Jeffery." He looked down at his food and shook his head.

"So then what happens, you're going to be with him and be a stepmom?" Thinking for a minute I just shrugged at him as he began asking a bunch of questions I didn't know the answer to.

"My god, Jeffery I don't know, I really don't know a damn thing. All I know is that who am I to judge his life. His child and I are two separate things. I care about him and if I'm falling in love then I have to accept his life like he would accept mine. He's waiting for the baby to be born to see if it's his, and you know what he said?" He shook his head. "He said that he wants to keep the baby and keep it away from his abusive ex. He wants to be there for the baby."

We were quiet for a while, Jeff looking at me for a minute. "I just don't want you getting hurt." I nodded, neither did I.

*

I laid in bed that night next to Harry who was spooning behind me. I had a lot on my mind and had a question that wasn't letting me sleep. "Harry?" He didn't respond. I turned slowly in his arms and saw his mouth slightly open as he slept. "Harry?"

"Mmm." He nodded his head still asleep.

"Do you think we were meant to find each other?" He opened his eyes and looked at me.

"Yeah." I nodded slowly turning back around to go to sleep. "I'm falling for you Marlene, you're everything I ever wanted." I sighed remembering what Jeff had said.

If I didn't love Harry I wouldn't be putting up with this. If this was a random guy I would have been long gone. What I hated was the fact that my mind was telling me it was too soon.

But what is the right time to fall in love with someone? Who says you have to wait a certain amount of time to fall in love. Maybe all my bad relationships have lead me to Harry and this was gods way of telling me to be with him.

But what if this was a sign to get away? I mean what would I be to him if he had a child? What would Emily say to me? Would she manipulate him into getting back together? I took a deep breath, I'm worrying about something that hasn't happened yet.

But it could.

*

Shout out to GabbyBelli I see you girl. Thank you for reading my story.

*edit* that's still my day one yall^

Thanks for reading. Xx

-k

*check out my story Zephyr if you haven't already. Xx