Chapter 17

"So did you have fun at home?" Chris asked the next day as I jumped up to sit on the counter.

I shrugged. "Not particularly." I admitted, leaning back on my hands.

"It was boring here without you." Chris smiled, resting his hands on either side of me as he stood in front of me.

I laughed, wrapping my legs around his waist.

"Yea I kept thinking I should be making smoothies with you." I laughed. "Mark actually made me make him a smoothie but it didn't turn out good at all." I shook my head with a grimace.

"Did you at least make him pay you?" Chris raised his eyebrows.

"He wouldn't pay me." I shrugged, sliding my fingers into Chris's hair.

Chris smirked, pressing his lips against mine as his hands pulled my waist closer to his.

If the rest of the summer went on like this, I'd be happy.

No labels, no necessary feelings, no pressure, just a loose ended relationship with lots of kissing, flirting, and smoothie making. That's what I wanted.

"Wait, wait." Chris said, pulling back from me slightly.

Oh no. Don't say it.

"Look, Marley, I really like you, but I'm leaving for school in 5 days so nothing can come out of this..." Chris said quietly, his eyes meeting mine.

"So nothing has to come from it." I shrugged. "Summer things are summer things for a reason. They're in the summer and then the two people part ways and it's fine. And hey, if I'm ever in New York I'll hit you up." I giggled.

Chris's face broke into a smile.

"So you're fine with this not meaning anything?" Chris raised his eyebrows.

"I wasn't expecting it to mean anything." I admitted with a laugh, playing with his hair. "Now kiss me before we have a customer." I giggled, leaning forwards again.

"Oh shit it's my mom." Chris gasped, quickly pulling me off of the counter. He replaced the baseball cap on his head, leaning against the counter as a middle aged, beautiful woman walked up.

"Mom." Chris nodded shortly.

"Hello Christopher." She smiled, glancing at me momentarily. "I'll have my usual please."

"5.50." Chris said softly to me.

"Uh that will be 5.50." I smiled at the woman, opening up the cash register. She handed me a ten dollar bill with manicured hands.

"4.50 is your change." I told her, giving her four ones and two quarters.

"Thank you darling." The woman smiled, her eyes lingering on me.

I awkwardly smiled, shutting the cash register.
Chris handed her the smoothie and she took it with a smile.

"Nice to see you." Chris's mom said happily before walking away.

I glanced at Chris.

"She's from California. She comes down here for a week every summer." Chris shrugged. "She's not the most motherly person."

"I know the feeling." I laughed, jumping back up on the counter. "So where were we?" I giggled.

Chris smirked, pulling my hips towards him as our lips connected.

~*~*~

"I'm going to work out, care to join?" Mark asked, walking into my room without knocking.

I raised my eyebrows at him as I put down my book.

"You're going to work out?" I laughed.

"Well yes. The football team has been having practices all summer and thanks to dad's idiotic plan of sending us down here I've been missing them." Mark said. "So get up off of your ass, we're going to work out."

I groaned, standing up from the bed. "Just give me a chance to change would you?" I rolled my eyes.

"You have 2 minutes." Mark gave me a look. I nodded as he shut the door.

I changed into a pink sports bra, a white tank top, and black athletic shorts.

"Ready!" I called, pulling my hair up into a small ponytail as I joined Mark on the back porch.

"Great. We're going for a run first." Mark grinned as I pulled on my running shoes.

"How far?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"Four miles. Sort of. It's like two miles to town so I figured we'd run there and back." He suggested, grinning.

I stood up, crossing my arms.

"I mean, if you can't run that far..." Mark trailed off, giving me a competitive look.

"Oh it's on." I laughed, quickly taking off from the porch.

"Hey! Hey Marley wait up!" Mark called, rushing to catch up to me.

"Sucker!" I yelled over my shoulder.

After about a minute of trying to be ahead of the other person, we settled into a nice rhythm.

I was impressed that I made it for the entire run. Sure, during the soccer season I was in great shape. But I hadn't really done any working out lately.

I was absolutely drenched in sweat by the time we got back in front of Aunt Audrey's house.

"Good job." Mark gave me a high five. I laughed, pushing loose pieces of my hair back from my face as I tried to catch my breath. "You too." I nodded, resting my hands behind my head.

"Why are you two all sweaty?" Chris laughed, walking over to us with Amanda and Haley. "And why weren't you guys at dinner?"

"We went for a run." I laughed, sitting down in the sand.

"You guys look dead." Amanda laughed, raising her eyebrows.

"Four miles." Mark said proudly, resting his hands on my shoulders.

"No get off..." I whined, looking up at him.

"What made you guys randomly go for a run?" Chris asked.

Mark explained how the football team had been working out and having practices and if he wanted to start in the first game of the season he'd have to work hard.

"Oh my Gosh." Amanda suddenly said. "You guys should do that thing where the guy does push ups with someone else on their back."

I rolled my eyes.

"Please. Michael and I did that all the time last year. Mark can't even compare to Michael's upper body strength." I laughed, shaking my head.

Mark raised his eyebrows, clearly offended.

"Excuse me?" Mark laughed, getting down on his knees. "Let's go, Marley."

I sighed as he got into the push up position.
I laid down on his back. There was no way he could do this after running 4 miles.

But he impressively did five pushups with my added weight. Then promptly collapsed in the sand with a groan.

"I'm dead." He whined.

"I get the shower!" I yelled, quickly running up to the house with a laugh.

My muscles were certainly going to kill tomorrow...

~*~*~

"Marley." Mark whispered, poking my cheek.

"Go away." I groaned, swatting his hand away.

"Marley." Mark repeated, shaking my shoulder.

"5 more minutes." I sighed, pulling my pillow over my face.

I heard Mark groan. Suddenly the covers were being pulled back from the bed and I was hoisted over someone's shoulder.

"You know you could've just told me to get up." I sighed, rubbing my eyes. "Where are you taking me?"

"You want to see this. Trust me." Mark said, still carrying me as he walked outside.

Aunt Audrey was sitting on the porch, looking up at the sky.

"Meteor shower." Mark smiled as he set me down on the ground.

I looked up at the sky as a shooting star shot across it.

"Make a wish." Aunt Audrey smiled.

I bit my lip, crossing my arms over my body.

I wish that Logan still loved me...